Everything is Transient
by Daffodil3126
Summary: Charlotte's grandfather taught her to be tough and to never rely on anyone but herself. But when she Married Richard, a charming, and very wealthy man, everything changed. He tore her down and she had spent the last six years with him cowering in fear. Will this world finish stomping out what little light she has left or can she rise above it all and burn brighter than ever?
1. Chapter 1

**Everything is transient**

She was so young with such innocent eyes

She always dreamt of a fairytale life

And all the things that your money can't buy

She thought that he was a wonderful guy

Then suddenly, things seemed to change

It was the moment she took on his name

He took his anger out on her face

She kept all of her pain locked away

-Christina Aguilera "Oh, Mother"

**Chapter 1-**

Life before the turn was barely tolerable for Charlotte, but now? Now it's insufferable. The only family she has left is her husband Richard and her sister Abby. Before the turn she was living with Richard in Hawkinsville in a fancy home that felt more like a prison. When it all started, Atlanta was supposed to be some kind of safe haven. So that's where she and her husband headed with a few of their neighbors.

She and Richard were the only ones to make it out of that death trap of a city. They were on their way out, looking for a car, when they ran into Abby and her boyfriend Markus. She had never been happier in her life, but the happiness didn't last long. The lurkers that followed them out of the city eventually caught up with them and raided the small camp they had set up on the outskirts of Atlanta. The monsters took Marcus leaving her and Abby alone with Richard. Ever since then life has been an even bigger hell than before.

At that moment Charlotte and her family were living in a hellhole trailer park with a group of people that she could care less about getting to know. It consisted of nothing but foul mouthed men. Richard fit in perfectly there, despite his high society tendencies, and that made things even harder on the sisters. "I'm starving." Abby whined like a little kid where she sat at the folding table in the dusty camper they had been living in for a week. "Maybe I could-"

"No." Charlotte cut her sister off, and put down the rag that she had been using to wipe blood splatters off of the cabinet doors. She slid into the small café style booth across from her sister, and grabbed her hand. "Not again." She kept her voice low and tender. "Richard will get us food. He's out hunting with the other men right now."

Abby scoffed at her sister before she pulled her hand away. "Yeah that piece of shit can't hunt to save his life." She reached down and picked up the pink studded bra that had fallen out of her bag. "I can get us food. I've done it before, I can do it again."

"I can't let you do that. We'll find another way." Charlotte said, letting her exhaustion fill her voice as she grabbed the bra from her sister and shoved it into the bag.

"I can sleep with Jeff. He's not _that_ bad, and I know he'll pay me with something good." Abby said as she kept her eyes on the ground so that Charlotte couldn't see the shame in them.

"Abby you can't. Just because you're 18 doesn't mean that it's okay to sell yourself for food. If Richard finds out…" she trailed off, not having to finish the sentence for her sister to know that things wouldn't be a bed of roses for her if he found the food stashed away for the two sisters, or if Jeff popped off his mouth about sleeping with Abby. "Just don't, please."

"We would be the fattest people here if that bastard would just let you hunt with them." Abby's whispered words felt like a slap in the face to Charlotte.

"Would you stop talking about him like that? He's kept us alive for this long hasn't he?" Charlotte turned her back on her sister and continued wiping at the cabinets.

"Yeah, barely." Abby couldn't stand Richard and it was with reasonable cause. He was a vile man, and Charlotte just couldn't see it. "He treats you like shit, now's your chance to leave him." She had given her older sister the same speech many times and she just wasn't hearing it. "Have you not looked at yourself in the mirror? Do you not see what he does to you? He-"

Abby was cut off when Richard opened the door and glared at her. "Mrs. Kelly needs your help with the washing." His statement may have sounded normal to most people, but to the two women it was hash and tainted with warning. Abby ducked her head and left Richard alone with his wife, wishing there was more she could do. He walked menacingly over to where Charlotte was on her hands and knees scrubbing at a spot of blood on the floor. She gasped when he reached down and jerked the dirty rag out of her hand. "Did I not tell you to have this place clean when I got back?" His cold words washed over her like ice water, causing her to duck her head and wait for a blow that didn't come. He grabbed her by her wrist and jerked her around until she was standing. "I asked you a question." She couldn't meet his eyes, and when she didn't he gripped her chin and made her. She once saw love and caring in his eyes, but now? Now the only think she saw in their dark brown depths was hate and detest. "Look at me when I talk to you god damn it. Now did I or did I not ask you to clean this place up?"

She felt as if she needed to be crying, but the ability to do so in situations like this was long gone. "You did." She answered quietly knowing that it was pointless, it would happen either way.

"Then why isn't it done?" he asked tightening his grip on her wrist and she struggled against him out of pure instinct.

"There was a lot of blood, I'm only one person." While her words were defiant, her voice was flat and emotionless, a tone that had long ago replaced her one of insolence.

"Then you should have worked faster." He pushed her back from him and looked her up and down with disgust scrawled across his handsome features. "Why can't you just follow directions?" The blow he laid into her cheek caught her off guard and knocked her to the floor where she hit her forehead on the corner of a metal ammo box. He paid no attention to the fact that she was bleeding as he grabbed her shirt and pulled her to her feet just to punch her again, this time in the eye.

She couldn't help the scream that fled from her mouth as he grabbed her by her hair and dragged her to the bed. "Please no." She knew her pleading wouldn't stop him, but it never stopped her from trying, it had worked on rare occasions. "Please, not tonight. Ah! Stop!" It didn't stop him from throwing her onto the bed and ripping her shirt off.

TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD

Charlotte sat freshly redressed on the edge of the bed while Richard pressed a wet cloth to her head. "I'm sorry. You know I am."

"Yeah, you always are. Doesn't keep you from doing it again, now does it?" Abby mumbled from across the camper and Richard shot her a warning look. "What? It's true. You beat the shit out of her then tell her you love her. She's just supposed to believe it? She's supposed to love you back?" Abby was at her wits end. She was sick and tired of watching her sister get the crap beat out of her. He had put her in the hospital once, before the turn. Abby just didn't know how to help, no one around the park wanted to get in the middle of the couples fights. Abby was powerless against him, but she knew she had to try or her sister would end up dead.

Richard ignored his sister-in-law and continued to clean Charlotte's face. "I love you, you know that right?" he asked, and Charlotte knew that if she didn't at least nod her head that he would snap and she would get it again. So that's what she did, she nodded her head and he pulled her into a gentle embrace. "That's my girl." He looked over Charlotte's shoulder and smirked at Abby. Richard had Charlotte right where he wanted her and everyone knew it.

"Char, look at me." Charlotte couldn't meet her sister's eyes, not after what just happened. "Come here." Abby grabbed her numb and dazed sister by the shoulders and turned her around, before she started to pull her toward the door. They were almost out when they were stopped by Richard grabbing Charlotte and pulling her back into him.

"Where the hell do you think you're taking her?" he growled and Abby puffed up like a blowfish.

"We're leaving." Charlotte's back was pressed into Richard's chest and Abby watched as he slid one arm around her shoulders and the other around her stomach. Charlotte just stood there numbly gawking at her sister. _What's going on, what is she doing?_ Charlotte thought to herself "Char, look at me, listen, think. We can get out of this, just come with me." Charlotte watched her sister's eyes slide to the knife that was strapped to Richards's hip then back to her eyes. _She wants me to kill him? I… I can't do that, I…he…_ "You can. You're strong, you can be strong." _I am? I can?_ Abby nodded just enough for Charlotte to see. _She's right, I have to do this._ Without over thinking it Charlotte slipped the knife out of its sheath and spun in his loose grip slicing him across the chest in the process. He yelped in pain as Abby pulled her sister quickly out of the camper, aware that Richard wasn't going to let them get away that easily.

The two headed for the gaited opening only to see it already opened and a horde of the undead was pouring into the small opening. They were only a few feet from the closing in crowd when Charlotte yelped in pain as Richard grabbed her by her hair and pulled her backwards away from the quickly nearing threats. "You really think you can survive with her?" he hissed in her ear as he drug her backwards quickly heading toward the rear entrance of the trailer park.

"Abby! Abby!" Charlotte screamed out when she saw her sister looking around for her. Abby heard her sister's screams and caught up with them, but when they got to the rear exit the fence was locked. The leader of the group had the key and he was nowhere to be seen. So Richard grabbed Charlotte by her waist and hoisted her onto the thick wooden fence. He jumped and hoisted himself up as well. "Abby, help Abby." She shoved at him making him fall to the ground below.

Charlotte assumed that Richard was going to help her sister, and jumped over the fence. Richard, being the asshole that he was, bought himself some time by kicking Abby into the crowd of eaters that had closed in on them. Charlotte's heart dropped to her toes when she heard Abby's pained screams echo over the fence. Just as Charlotte jumped in an attempt to get back over the fence Richard pulled himself over and dropped to the ground. "We gotta go." Richard said simply as he pulled Charlotte's hand from her tear soaked face. She numbly followed after him, her feet feeling like lead as they thumped against the ground, carrying her into the forest.


	2. Chapter 2

**Everything Is Transient**

_What's wrong, what's wrong now?_

_Too many, too many problems._

_Don't know where she belongs, where she belongs._

_She wants to go home, but nobody's home._

_It's where she lies, broken inside._

_With no place to go, no place to go to dry her eyes._

_Broken inside._

_Her feelings she hides._

_Her dreams she can't find._

_She's losing her mind._

_She's fallen behind._

_She can't find her place._

_She's losing her faith._

_She's fallen from grace._

_She's all over the place._

_-Avril lavigne "Nobody's Home"_

**Chapter 2-**

She felt like she had been walking for days, when in all reality she had only been walking for half of one. The skin on her shoulders was becoming red and inflamed from the endless sun that was beating down on her. They had no sunscreen, no food, and no water. Actually they had nothing, only the knife that was now strapped securely back on Richard's hip and a now empty bottle of water that was in Richards hand. The only clothing she had was the dingy blue tank top and cargo pants that were on her body. It didn't help that the shoes on her feet were considered worn-out a long time ago.

Richard hadn't said a word since they left their camp, and that was at least ten hours ago considering the sun was strait up in the sky. His silence rattled her even worse than his yelling, but what was even more unsettling was that he was actually letting her walk ahead of him. She stopped walking when she got to a broken down, rusted car that she proceeded to raid for anything to protect her from the sun. She flinched when she felt his hand land gently on her back but kept looking in the back seat of the car.

"Charlotte, I'm sorry." His voice would have sounded kind to untrained ears, but she knew better. She only clinched her fists at the first words he had spoken in hours _I'm sorry, I'm sorry, he's always sorry._ She thought to herself as she lifted up a blood stained crochet shawl to reveal a compound bow sitting there like a drop of rain in the middle of a drought.

It had been a long time since she had shot a bow. Hell she doubted she even had the strength to pull one back anymore. The last time she had shot one was when she was a teenager living with her grandfather. He had taught her how to hunt, but now she wasn't even sure if she could do that anymore. The hard steel felt cold under her hand as she ran it over the bow, wondering what it would feel like to kill something for the pure joy of gathering food.

She could still hear her grandfather's gravelly voice in her ear as she stared down the sights of his 300 Winchester magnum that was trained on a beautiful white-tailed deer. "Don't be afraid, or sorry. God put them here for us, to feed his children." She distinctly remembered the smell of the wet earth she breathed in before she pulled the trigger. She missed the deer that day, but her grandfather didn't get mad at her. His simply draped his arm around her shoulders, and reassured his 16 year old granddaughter that she would "Get 'em next time."

"What the hell is so interesting in there?" he asked with a tone that clearly let her know that he was aggravated with her and quickly pulled her out of her memories of the good old days. He grabbed her by the back of her shirt collar and yanked her out of the car so he could take a look. "Oh score." He scooped up the bow and tried to pull the string back. He failed and it didn't help that the idiot was holding it upside down. She accidentally mumbled her thoughts and he turned on her. "What the fuck did you just say?"

At that moment her sister's voice echoed in her head. _You're strong, you can be strong._ But she didn't believe it, she couldn't. Instead of repeating herself she asked the question that had been plaguing her mind all day. "You killed my sister, didn't you?" She shouldn't have asked. She knew a beating was coming; her mouth was responsible for this one and a lot of the others she had gotten in the past.

Instead of hitting her like she thought he would, his face took on a fake look of hurt. "How could you even ask me that? After everything I've done to keep her alive, to keep both of you alive?" He looked as if he was about to cry.

"I'm sorry, it's just…" She had gone over the previous night's events in her head a thousand times and she just didn't understand how her sister had gotten eaten. Richard had plenty of time left to get both Abby and himself safely over.

"It's just what?" His face quickly changed as he closed the distance between them and grabbed her by the throat, slamming her into the pole of the road sign behind her. "I'm that a bad person?" _Is this how you convince me otherwise?_ "You think I didn't love her too? She was family." _Yeah, exactly._ She was too wrapped up in thought to realize that she hadn't answered him, and he hated for his questions to go unanswered. His grip on her throat tightened, cutting off her air supply. "Answer me, damn it!" Only wet gurgles came out of her mouth as she clawed his strong hand. Her lungs were starting to burn and her head felt like it was going to explode. _I'm going to die. He's finally gonna kill me._ The rumbling of car motors in the background sounded like a hallelujah chorus to her ears. When he finally took his hand off of her throat she fell to the ground gasping for air, but she didn't even have a chance to catch her breath before he jerked her up and dusted her off. "Whoever these people are, they're going to ask questions. You keep your god damn mouth shut." He looked her up and down, disgusted at her appearance. "If they ask what happened, you fell…off a…" he looked around him quickly thinking of an excuse. "truck we were sleeping on top of." She only looked down at the ground as she rubbed her sore neck. _Yeah, because that makes perfect sense._ When she didn't acknowledge that he had spoken he grabbed her chin and made her look at him. "You hear me?" he asked, pointing his dirty finger in her face.

She nodded rapidly, not being able to speak, and he lightly slapped her cheek before he started walking over to the car and grabbing the bow. _Must be for intimidation, 'cause you ain't gonna be shooting it._ The cars came into sight just after she crossed the street to get the shawl out of the car to wrap it around her shoulders and neck, hoping it would cover the bruises she knew would be forming there. She only wished there was something she could use to cover her face.

When the silver truck came into view she could easily see a man standing in the back, but she had no idea how many were actually inside. She saw Richard give her a warning look just before the people pulled to a stop, and the man in the back jumped out, crossbow in hand. Even though she couldn't see his eyes through his hair she could feel them, taking in the messiness of her long straight hair, the cut on her head and the bruises she knew were on her face and wrists. He just stood there looking at her and Richard until another man got out of the driver's seat. She could clearly see now that it was just the two of them in the truck.

"How you folks doin'?" The man that had been driving asked, and she took her eyes off of the crossbow man to look at him. He looked friendly enough with his semi clean tan shirt, slicked back wavy hair and trimmed graying beard. It was the knife on his hip that she found threatening. That and the unfriendly looking man with a loaded bow in his hands that was standing next to him.

"As good as anyone roaming the streets now days can be I guess." Richard answered with a fake laugh in his voice. "May I ask who you friendly gentlemen are?" _There he goes, being so charming that no one could believe it, 'cept me._ She scoffed at herself inwardly before she turned her attention back to the two men.

"I'm Rick, this is Daryl." He pointed to the man with the crossbow who gave them both a single nod of acknowledgement. "Is it just you two out here?" he asked and Richard told him that it was. "How long has it been that way?" He told him the truth; that it hadn't even been a day and what happened to their last group. "None of them made it?" Both of them shook their heads. If other members of their group would have made it, they would have met them at the meeting spot in the woods.

Charlotte let her eyes wander from Rick to Daryl, who was looking at the v shaped cut on her forehead. "You people look pretty clean. You have a camp around here?" Daryl and Rick exchanged looks at Richards's observation.

"We need to ask y'all some questions first," Rick's eyes slid over to Charlotte before they settled back on Richard. "Separately, if that's okay with you."

"No, anything you need to ask me you can ask in front of her." Richard's charming act dropped as panic settled over him.

"Look it's nothing personal. It's just how we do things. Shouldn't take longer than a few minutes." Richard just stood there glaring at him while Charlotte clutched the shawl tighter to herself. "How about a few answers in exchange for a few bottles of clean water, what do you say?" Charlotte watched Richard's thoughts play out on face; he wasn't used to meeting nice people in this world and he didn't know how to play it.

"Fuck it, sure, whatever." He mumbled before he walked a few feet away from where Daryl walked over to Charlotte.

"What's your name?" The rough looking man seemed a bit less threatening once the bow was on his back and not in his hands, but she still felt uncomfortable with his close presence.

"Char-" her voice caught on the pain in her throat and she turned away from him to cough. She jumped around and almost fell when she felt something plastic touch her shoulder. Heat rose to her cheeks when she realized that it was just a bottle of water that Daryl was trying to hand her. He got aggravated when she just stared at like it was going to bite her. A slight growl slipped from his whiskered lips as he unscrewed the lid, grabbed her hand and slammed the bottle into it. Some of the lukewarm water sloshed out onto her hand from the force. _They must have a lot of water if he can afford to waste it like that_, she thought, before she opened her mouth and pored the welcomed fluids in without touching the bottle to her lips. She still managed to be afraid of germs, even after the turn. "Charlotte." She answered, her voice still raspy, as she tried to hand him back the bottle, but he waved his hand at her dismissively.

"Keep it. How many walkers have you killed?" She raised her eyebrows and shook her head at the question.

"Too many to count." Despite Richard not allowing her to have a weapon, Charlotte always found a way to protect herself from the vile creatures when it was necessary. A butter knife, a candle holder, or even a frying pan had been used to save her life from a half rotted corpse.

"How many people have you killed?" She didn't know what to think about his question, but she understood the need to ask it.

"Do you count people who have been bitten, but not turned?" Daryl shook his head no. "Then none." She saw him look over at Rick before the two met at the truck and started talking. Richard demanded to know what they had asked her and when she told him, he confirmed that they had asked him the same questions.

It wasn't five minutes later that the two men walked back over to them. "We do have a camp. We're headed back, if y'all want to join us." Richard told them that they would. "Been on a supply run all day so the back seats are full." Rick explained as he climbed into the driver's seat and closed the door.

Richard wasn't going to let her be alone with either of the men so he grabbed her wrist, led her to the back and let down the tailgate before he lifted her in, then climbed up after her. She didn't know if she should be scared or excited to be meeting new people. She knew how protective Richard could be of her when she was around people, especially other men.

The ride was awkwardly quiet. Between Richards arm wrapped protectively around her waist and Daryl's eyes that kept bouncing back and forth between the stiff couple she felt like she was going to explode. The whole ride there she found herself trying not to rub at the soreness on her neck that was being irritated by the itchy shawl.

~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~

"This place is awesome. Nothing is getting in or out of those fences." Charlotte didn't like the look in Richards's eyes as he pulled her into him and kissed the cut on her head. "I can protect you here. Keep you safe from those things." They had been welcomed into the prison with suspiciously open arms, given the water they were promised and a warm meal of fresh cooked squirrel, then shown to a cell they could call their own. While Richard seemed to love it, Charlotte found it ironically confining. She had felt like Richard was holding her prisoner wherever they lived, and now she really would be living in a cell.

"Knock, knock." A female voice echoed through the small room, and they both turned to look at the doorway where an older woman with short, graying hair stood with a stack of clothes in her hands. "I'm Carol, Daryl ask me to bring these to you. I see that you didn't bring much stuff with you, so if you need anything just let me know." She flashed them a genuinely kind smile as she patted the doorframe before walking away.

"She seems nice." Charlotte spoke her thoughts aloud as she watched Richard place the clothes on the top bunk.

"Yeah, everyone here is nice. Too nice if you ask me." He threw her a blanket that was on the bottom of the stack of clothes and put his hand on his hip. The look on his face suggested she should know what he was thinking. It aggravated her when he did that. How the hell was she supposed to know what he was thinking? She gave him a look that said she needed more explanation. "Don't give me that fuckin look. You know exactly what I'm talking about."

She huffed out an aggravated breath as she grabbed a blanket that had been included with the clothes and started spreading it out on the bunk. "No, I don't." She said quietly, and he pushed her shoulder so that she would stand up and look at him.

"I don't like the way he was looking at you." That once sentence was all it took for her to realize what, or rather who, he was talking about. Daryl. His eyes on her hadn't just been in her ashamed imagination. Richard had noticed, and she knew that her life there was going to be worse than being out on the road.

"If he was looking at me it's only because I look like a peach that someone's dropped too many times." Her mouth wasn't going to make things any easier. His face darkened, he grabbed her arm and slammed her against the wall.

"I forgo-" Carols sentence dropped off when she saw the man with his fist drawn back behind his head. He dropped it the second he spotted her in the doorway. "Oh, uh, sorry to interrupt. I just forgot to tell you that we have showers if you'd like to use them."

Richard slathered on the charm with his wide smile that somehow made his dark eyes look welcomingly brighter. "A nice shower would be lovely. Just show us the way."

"Well we only have one rigged up so far, so we only let one person in the shower block at a time." Richards face fell when he realized that he would have to let Charlotte out of his sight, and it was too late to take back what he had said about taking a shower. "Ladies first?" Carol asked, and Richard gave her a nod telling her that it was okay. So she gathered her clean clothes into her arms and started following the older woman down the stairs.

**A/N:** Reviews, follows and favorites are highly appreciated. I hate to beg for reviews, but they help me know what my readers like and don't like about my story and what I can do to improve. They give me the fuel I need to keep writing. Also I would like to extend a big thank you to my first five followers: IrishLover470, Sparky94, TeamComrade11, ratherbereading125 and vinny-nicole. Much love, and thanks for reading. :-)


	3. Chapter 3

**Everything is transient**

_Hey brother, there's an endless road to re-discover._

_Hey sister, know the water's sweet but blood is thicker._

_Oh, if the sky comes falling down for you,_

_There's nothing in this world I wouldn't do._

_Hey brother, do you still believe in one another?_

_Hey sister, do you still believe in love, I wonder?_

_Oh, if the sky comes falling down for you,_

_There's nothing in this world I wouldn't do._

_-Avicii-Hey brother_

**Ch. 3**

"So your name's Charlotte?" Carol asked as they walked down the dim hallway and Charlotte nodded. "And your boyfriends name is…?"

"Richard's my husband." Charlotte answered timidly making Carol nod her head and looked at the ground in front of her as she walked..

"Oh, I didn't see a ring on your finger. Have you been married for long?" Carol's innocent questions pulled at Charlottes heart strings. She didn't have a ring because it didn't fit anymore. Richard had beat her down and made her lose so much weight that it didn't fit and had gotten lost.

"Yeah, our sixth wedding anniversary was the day before people started turning into monsters, so I guess we're closer to seven years now." Carol liked the fact that the woman wasn't scared to talk to her. "I…lost my ring a long time ago." Charlotte tried to force a smile but the pain it caused her was obvious to Carol.

"Here we are." They came to a stop in front of a metal door, but Carol didn't push it open. "So how'd you get so banged up?" the older woman reached her hand out to touch the v shaped cut from the corner of the ammo box. She wasn't surprised when Charlotte shied away.

"I, uh, fell off of a big truck that Richard and I were sleeping on the other night." The lie was easier to see through than a crystal glass.

"Okay I have to fess up about something." _Oh my god, what is she going to tell me? I don't even know her what does she have to fess up about?_ Charlotte took a step back from her. "We have more than one shower; I just wanted to get you away from him for a minute." She pulled the shawl tighter around her neck and tried to hold back the tears that were threatening to fall. "You said you've been married for seven years?" she nodded her head slowly wondering what the point of this conversation was. "How many of those years have been filled with endless beatings, broken wrists and dislocated shoulders?"

Carols words were the closest she had ever gotten to help from someone other than her sister. "All of them." Carol only heard her whispered words because they echoed off the walls around them.

"I can help you." Those four words were all it took for the thin strings that were holding Charlotte together to slowly start unraveling. She numbly stumbled back into the wall letting the shawl fall away, exposing her discolored neck to Carol who gasped. "My lord, no wonder you sound like you smoke ten packs a day. You need to see Hershel." When Charlotte asked who Hershel was Carol told her that he was a veterinarian, the closest thing they had to a doctor. "Here I'll take you to him." Carol only took a few steps before she realized that Charlotte wasn't following her.

"You said you could help me?" Carol walked back over to her and nodded. "How…why? No one has ever acknowledged it before. No one's ever wanted to take on Richard. What makes you think you can keep him from…hurting, me anymore?" Carol should have known she wouldn't just automatically believer her. Hell if someone had told her they knew what Ed was doing to her and that they could help her she would have laughed in their face.

"I want to help you because…" Charlotte could see the truth in Carol's eyes when she took a deep breath and looked at the floor "because I've been in your shoes. I had a husband. He was a mean, short tempered and controlling as hell. I know what it's like to be pushed down stairs, hit and burned." _She knows. She really does understand._ "And I can help you because I have friends, lots of 'em, that won't stand for violence in this prison." Fear, hope and nervousness bubbled in the pit of her stomach making her tap her foot anxiously against the floor. "But I have to ask you, before we tell anyone else. Do you want help? Because if you don't, it will be pointless for me to try."

Charlotte's body shook as she tapped the tope of her shoe harder into the floor. "I don't know…" she shakily swiped at a tear that escaped her eye. "He…he loves me."

"Do you trust me?" She didn't even really have to think about the question before she nodded her head. "If he really loved you he wouldn't hit you." Carol could look at Charlotte and tell that she was beyond confused, and she understood it. "Does it hurt to swallow?" Charlotte swallowed a few times before she nodded. "Then why don't you go take your shower, get yourself together and let me know what you decide later." Charlotte told her that sounded good to her. "You know your way back to the cell block?" she nodded. "Okay if I don't see you again in thirty minutes or so I'm coming after you." Carol tried to lighten the mood by adding a light laugh at the end of her statement, but it still didn't make Charlotte smile.

She was amazed by what she saw when she opened the door. There was four big sinks with buckets of water that could be pumped into them, but that's not what interested her the most. In the back of the room, dozens of shower curtains were hung around the walls each covering a shower head and cut off valve. If she hadn't been so sore she would have sprinted to them. She settled for setting her clean clothes on a bench that was in the middle of the floor, walking as fast as she could, quickly pumping the water and turning on the closest shower.

Cold water came rushing out drenching her from head to toe, clothes and all. She mentally scolded herself for getting over excited and getting her clothes wet, but that didn't stop her from stripping down and enjoying the first shower she had taken in months. The water being cold didn't bother her, because it felt good on her raw skin that she sun had been beating down on all day.

~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~

Richard was pissed, to put it lightly, when he went to take his shower and found out that there was way more than one that was useable and Charlotte got the blame. She tried to tell him that she didn't know that Carol was lying, but Richard didn't believe her. He could never see her side of things and when something wet wrong she always took the fall for it. This punishment was no different then the one she received the night her sister died. If someone heard them, they didn't try to stop it.

She waited until he was sound asleep before she eased herself out of the small bed making sure not to wake him in the process. She needed to get away for a while, if that meant just going into the holding room or a random room of the prison for a while then that's what she would do. When they still lived in their condo in Hawkinsville she would go out on the balcony and let the wind blow away her thoughts.

She looked sadly at the brand new pants that Carol had given her. There was already a rip in the knee of them from Richard slinging her around and making her scratch her knees on the concrete floor. She slid them back on before she pulled the plain black t-shirt over her head and grabbed a flashlight. But she stopped at the doorway when a new thought hit her. _I never tried to pull back that bow. I wonder…_ She bit her bottom lip as she got down on her hands and knees and felt for it under the bed. She hadn't seen him with it since they had gotten there so she knew he had stashed it somewhere.

She smiled to herself when the back of her hand hit something hard. It felt familiar to her nimble fingers as they curled around the limb of the bow and pulled it out as quietly as she could. A double check of Richard confirmed that he was still asleep. He was a hard sleeper that was the only good thing about him. She now knew where she was going and what she was going to do. When she got out of the cell she stopped to look at the building. It was creepy during the day, but at night it was much worse. The light from the full moon that cascaded in through the high barred windows gave the place an eerie blue glow. She was much more relaxed when she got outside and saw the hurricane fences in the distance.

The air outside was cool and it felt good so she took off the still dirty shawl that she had wearing just incase she ran into someone in the building. She had every intention of shooting the bow, but the night air felt so relaxing that she decided to just enjoy it for a while and wonder around the courtyard. When she came by a picnic table she laid the bow down on top and sat next to it with her arms behind her and her head tilted back to look at the stars.

She was lost in the night just like she wanted to be and wasn't paying attention to anything else around her. "Hey." She yelped and almost fell off of the table. "Ya always so jumpy?" she grabbed her flashlight and shined it on the face of the person that scared her to see that it was Daryl.

"Yeah, I kinda have to be now days." The man only nodded and she expected him to move on with his patrol, or whatever he was doing out there, but when he sat his lantern down on the table she knew he intended to stay. So she clicked her light off and sat it down next to the bow.

"So you know how to shoot that thing?" he asked as he took a seat on the other end of the table. "Or do ya just use it like a fashion accessory?" She actually laughed at his absurd question. "Hey, believe it or not I've seen it happen."

"Yeah, I do. Or at least I did before." She said not looking at her torn up shoes where they rested on the bench of the table.

"If ya knew how to use it before the turn why don't you know how to use it now?" She looked at him. He had swept his long hair out of his face so she could clearly see his confused eyes looking at her.

"I didn't mean before the turn." She looked back down and started picking at her dirty fingernails. _I shouldn't be talking to him. This is going to get me in trouble._

"Before what then?" the way his voice got softer suggested he already knew what she was talking about.

"Before I married Richard." She half expected him to leave after her shamefully whispered confession, but he didn't. He just joined her in looking at the ground. _I really need to go back inside before Richard comes back inside._ She was torn. Despite this mans rough appearance he seemed nice, well nicer than lot of other men she has seen lately, and it felt good to have a conversation with someone that didn't consist of rude accusations, yelling or speeches that were supposed to convince her to leave her husband.

She jumped slightly when Daryl pushed himself off of the table and walked over to point at her bow. "You mind?" she just shook her head no, so he picked it up testing the weight of it. "Why did you bring it out here if you can't use it?" he asked as he grabbed the string and pulled it back.

"I guess I hoped that I could pull it back." She confessed before he let the string back down and handed it to her. She just held it out in front of her and looked at it in her hand thinking of her grandfather.

"Are ya gonna try or just stare at it?" all of a sudden she didn't want to try. _What's the point it's not like I'll ever be allowed to shoot it anyway._

"I better go inside before Richard realizes I'm gone." She hopped down off of the table and started toward the building.

"Seriously? You risked a beating just to chicken out?" his words stopped her in her tracks. He knew, he knew about what Richard does and he chose not to say anything to her about it. She slowly turned to look at his hair covered eyes. "I'm not stupid, no one around here is." She felt her face flush and she couldn't tell if it was out of humiliation or anger. "So was it worth the risk, sneaking out just to look at the freakin stars."

"You've been watching me?" she accused, freaked out by him now.

"Only since I saw you leave the building." He answered as he crossed his arms over his chest and tucked his fingers into the armholes of the vest he was wearing.

She knew now that it was her temper that flamed in her cheeks. "Do you know how creepy that is?" she asked through clenched teeth.

He just shrugged his shoulders. "Sorry, but I had to make sure ya wasn't gonna try to off yourself. Didn't want ya turnin and eatin my friends." He cheeks cooled when she realized that what he said made a lot of sense.

"Well I'm not going to kill myself." She stated with attitude tainting her words. "Can't say the thought doesn't sound welcoming though." She mumbled under her breath thinking he wouldn't hear it.

"Guess I'll just have to keep my eye on ya then." He copied her mumble knowing she would be able to hear it.

She jerked her head up and looked at the small smirk on his face. "Yeah, I guess you will." Her glaring eyes only made him smirk bigger. It sparked her temper and she quickly lifted the bow, grabbed the string and tried to pull it back. She managed to get it half drawn before she had to let it back down.

"Few pushup and you'll be pullin it back in no time." He chose that moment to grab his lantern and walk off into the night.

Her stomach boiled with nervous energy as she made her way back to their cell. _He's gonna kill me. He's gonna kill me…_ She hesitated in the doorway and peered in see that Richard hadn't moved from the position he had been in when she left. So she quietly placed the bow back under the bed and gently lifted the blanket. She bit her bottom lips as she eased down on the bed and covered herself up. She hadn't realized how cold she had gotten outside until Richard mumbled something in his sleep and threw his arm around her.

Both Carol and Daryl were on her mind as drifted off to sleep.

A/N: I know the song I put at the beginning of this chapter is probably so worn out by now, but it just represented this chapter so well. Its all about being there for each other and I think that it just fits Daryl and Carol's characters to a tee. They will both do what they think is needed to be done in order to save someone. oh and I'd like to let everyone know that I don't intend for anything romantic to develop between Charlotte and Daryl, for now this is all about friendship. If the songs bother you please let me know, thanks for reading. :-) Reviews along with follows are always welcome. Have a good day/night.


	4. Chapter 4

**Everything is Transient**

Cover up with makeup in the mirror

tell yourself, it's never gonna happen again

You cry alone and then he swears he loves you.

Do you feel like a man when you push her around?

Do you feel better now as she falls to the ground?

Well, I'll tell you my friend, one day this world's gon' to end

as your lies crumble down, a new life she has found.

-Red Jumpsuit Apparatus "Face Down"

**Ch. 4**

She woke up to Richard shaking her shoulder. "Charlotte, get up. The sun's up, time to start a new day." She sat up and stretched before she looked around the room. It took her a minute to remember that they were no longer living in a shitty trailer park. They had slept in a prison cell. She caught herself looking around for her sister. The memory of her sister's screams for help slammed into her all over again. Abby was gone and she wasn't coming back. Richard turned from the mirror over the sink and saw Charlotte just sitting there looking at her wrist. "You thinking about Abby?"

The phoenix that Charlotte's eyes were glued to was the one thing she and her sister shared. They had gone together and gotten the same small, black, mythical bird tattooed on their wrists. "Yeah." She didn't try to keep the sadness from her voice.

"Well don't. She's gone, and it's just you and me now." The smile on his face made her sick. "Don't look at me like that. It'll give you more wrinkles. Besides, it was for the best anyways, one less mouth for me to feed." His tone was too happy. _You killed her, I know you did._

"How can you say that? She was my _sister_, my flesh and blood. I don't care if you saw her as 'just another mouth to feed', she didn't deserve to die." She air quoted her words as she stood up and clenched her fists at her sides.

"Oh honey, no one that dies these days deserves it, but they die anyways. It's called life, so deal with it." He finished buttoning up his shirt before he turned to her. "Glenn asked me yesterday to help clear off the walkers that have been building up on the fences."

"Okay, I'm going to go help Carol with the laundry." She said, as she stood up and slipped on her shoes.

"No you're not. You're going to stay right here." Her mouth fell open. "I've got you some food and water over there." She opened her mouth to protest, but he cut her off. "We don't know these people, and until I do you're not leaving this cell."

"Are you fuckin kidding me? What the hell am I supposed to do all da-" she was cut off when the back of his hand collided with her cheek.

"You heard me. So don't even _think_ about leaving." He dropped his finger from her face to kiss her cheek. "See you tonight."

Tonight? What the hell?

She asked herself as she looked around the cell again before she glanced up at the window across from the way. It didn't look like the sun had been up for long so she settled back down on the bed and drifted off to sleep.

She woke up several hours later when Carol came and knocked on the frame of the door. "Hey, I thought you were going to come help with the laundry." Her voice was soft, as if talking to a child that had just woken from a nap.

Charlotte stretched and wiped at the sweat that had gathered on her forehead. "Yeah, I guess I changed my mind." Carol rolled her eyes and walked into the room.

"That's a lie, isn't it?" Charlotte only nodded her answer. "Let me guess, he doesn't want you around people he doesn't know." She got another nod. "Yeah, it's not because he don't trust us around you. It's because he doesn't want you to make friends, male friends especially. Just like all the other mean, insecure, untrustworthy men out there he thinks that you will find someone better than him, and honestly, I think you could, even in this world."

Charlotte just sat there listening to her. "Uh… thanks, I guess." She really didn't know how to respond to the woman's lecture. "But there's only one thing wrong with your theory. Richard isn't insecure, he's the opposite, and he's not mean. He's…angry."

"Why? What do you to do that makes him so angry that he feels the need to hit you?" Carol asked almost getting aggravated with her.

Charlotte just looked down at her hands and started twiddling with the hem of her shirt. "It's not what I do, it's what I did." Carol walked over and sat down on the foot of the bed next to Charlotte.

"Fine, what _did_ you do?" her voice was calming now and Charlotte knew it was because the woman was just trying to help her, but it was making her feel trapped.

"Nothing, it doesn't matter anymore." Carol took the snappiness in the younger woman's voice as her hint to leave.

"Okay, but remember what I told you." Charlotte looked up from her hands to stare at the woman. "Let me know when you want help, and I'll help."

Charlotte heaved out a sigh and nodded as she leaned back against the wall and Carol walked out.

~~~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~~~

Charlotte did as asked and when Richard came back, covered in blood splatters he was satisfied to find that she had. But when he got back from taking his shower he found their clothes freshly washed and dried on top of a stack of more new ones that were the neatly folded on a stool in the corner. "I thought I told you not to leave." He held up the clothes before he threw them on the floor.

"I didn't." he backhanded her before she could explain. She pressed her hand to her cheek in an attempt to ease the stinging as she glared at him. "I didn't leave. Carol washed them and brought us some new ones."

"Then you should have told me so." She clenched her fists behind her back and ground her teeth together. "Just like you should have told me the carpet was loose so that I could fix it." Her heart stopped for a second. He hadn't mentioned the accident in years. She whispered her apology and he scoffed at her. "Sorry doesn't cut it. But you knew that already." He crawled into bed and threw the covers over himself. "Now shut the fuck up and go to sleep."

She sighed and slid in next to him. She didn't sleep, she just lay perfectly still until she could hear his light snoring echoing around the room. When she was one hundred percent sure he was out, she did what she had always done at night time when she could, escape. The loose soles of her shoes flapped as her feet carried her to the bench outside that she had been sitting on the night before.

She laid back and looked up at the sky, trying to think back to a time when things weren't so bad. When it didn't hurt to smile or laugh. To a time when she had friends, even though they weren't true friends. If they were, they would have helped her before it was too late. But they turned their noses up at her weird behavior and simply stopped talking to her.

Believe it or not she could remember a time when Richard's smile wasn't sadistic or patronizing. He was a loving and caring person. Until one day he wasn't. He started blaming her for something she had no control over. She crossed her arms over her stomach hugging herself. _If only I could…_

"Out here again?" she yelped in surprise, and sat up, quickly looking around to find where the now familiar voice was coming from. It wasn't hard to spot the light at the end of the table, where her head had been, that now highlighted Daryl's scraggly face.

"What is it with you and sneaking up on me?" she asked, having not heard him walk up.

"I didn't sneak, actually I was tryin' to be noisy so that ya wouldn't jump ten feet." He didn't sit down like he had the night before. He just kept standing at the end of the table.

"You don't have to keep an eye on me, I'm not goin' to off myself tonight." She looked down at her hands and started picking dirt out from under her nails.

"Why do you keep coming out here?" he asked, ignoring her statement. "Most people hate being outside at night now days."

"Because I like being outside." She answered simply while wishing he would go away and leave her to her thoughts, instead of bugging her with pointless questions. "Does my presence bother you?" The man just shook his head slowly from side to side. "Good, because I've been stuck in that place all day. I'm not going back in for a quite a while." With that she crossed her arms over her chest and lay back down to look up at the stars.

"What is it with you and those stupid balls of hot gas?" She glanced over at him for a second before she answered.

"They're pretty without all the bright lights the earth had on it drowning them out." She heard the sound of a snort, then his lantern being moved around on the table. "That and they're the only thing that doesn't change. Well, I'm sure they change in some ways, but they do it a lot slower then everything else. Even before the world turned into a bad zombie movie, things changed, people could be smiling and happy one minute then shot in the back the next. Stars don't get the rug pulled out from under them like we do."

She felt him sit down on the bench near the end of the table. "You talk like that around yer husband?" he asked, and she slid her arms around her stomach hugging herself.

"No." she paused, thinking back to when they first met. "I used to, but he doesn't want to hear what goes on in my head anymore." She slid her arms down to her stomach and hugged herself tighter. "I doubt you do either." It got quiet between them and after a few minutes she expected him to go away, but he didn't. So after a while she forgot he was there and she started thinking about what Carol said about her making friends with men. _This is gonna get me in trouble. If Richard finds out I was out here, talking to Daryl no less, my ass is gonna be grass._ With that thought in mind she pushed herself up with a grunt and got down off of the table. "Well it was uh… nice, talking to you Daryl." She started walking back to the prison.

"Hey." She turned back to see Daryl still sitting on the table with the lantern now in his hand. "Ya ever get tired of him beatin' on ya…" he paused to nod. "ya just let me know and I'll take care of him."

As strangely touching as that was, considering Daryl was still a stranger to her, it made her want to spend even less time with him. She forced a smile onto her face. "Goodnight Daryl."

When she got back to her cell she expected to find Richard still asleep like always, but he wasn't. He was standing in the middle of the room with his arms crossed and his face glaring in the dim moonlight. "Where did you go?"

Oh shit, oh shit oh shit. Think fast, where were you?

"I had to pee." She lied trying to make it sound believable.

"Oh, okay, come back to bed." _He believed that? No, something's up._ She thought to herself as she sipped into bed after him.

As soon as she slipped off to sleep bad dreams of old memories started playing in her head.

The air outside was cold but the two happy sisters didn't care. They laughed and playfully shoved each other as they walked down the city sidewalk. "Oh my god that hurt so much." Abby laughed as she looked at the fresh tattoo on her wrist before she grabbed her sisters and looked at it. "I can't believe they didn't ID me. I can totally pass for a twenty year old huh?"

Charlotte just laughed at her younger sister. "I wouldn't go that far, but you definitely don't look fifteen." She looked her up and down taking in the padded bra and coochie cutter shorts that her sister wore with an overly tight tank top. "The hooker look really works for you." She said with fake admiration and a smile, and her sister shoved her making her stumble toward the street.

"What do ya think Grandpa is gonna say about it?" she asked and they linked arms and both started laughing.

"I think you need to invest in a cuff bracelet because he's gonna kill you." The sisters laughed again but Abby quickly stopped when a thought hit her.

"What is Richard gonna do?" neither of them smiled. "You said he's been controlling ever since-"

"Stop, I've asked you not to talk about that day." Her sister frowned and looked at the ground surprised by her older sibling's snappy tone. "Look I'm sorry, I just don't like to talk about it. And Richard will just have to get over one silly tattoo."

All of a sudden it was like someone flipped the pages of her memory book forward six years.

"What the fuck where you thinking huh!" Richard grabbed the pan of burnt pork chops and threw them across the dining room. "I work all day at the office and have to come home to this?" he crossed the room and grabbed her by the back of her neck and dragged her across the room where the food was now all over the floor before he forced her down on her hands and knees. "I married a woman that could cook for a reason!"

She didn't have time to say anything before he shoved her face in the food and started rubbing her face around in it. He was treating her as if she was a dog that had just peed on the floor.

"If you ever burn my dinner again I'll make it so you will never be able to cook again." He hissed in her ear before he threw her down and stood up wiping the angry spittle off of his mouth with his shirt sleeve.


	5. Chapter 5

**Everything Is Transient**

_I didn't get around to kiss you_

_Goodbye on the hand_

_I wish that I could see you again_

_I know that I can't_

_I hope you can hear me cause I remember it clearly_

_The day you slipped away_

_Was the day I found it won't be the same_

_Now you are gone, now you are gone_

_There you go, there you go_

_Somewhere I can't bring you back_

_Avril Lavigne "Slipped Away"_

**Ch. 5**

Charlotte had spent the last three weeks hidden away in the cell all day and sneaking out at night. The picnic table in the court yard quickly became her place to escape and whoever was on watch that night would stop by and talk to her for a couple of minutes. Everyone who spoke to her knew that Richard didn't know about her being out there and that if they were to mention it to him she would pay for it that night. Everyone in the prison knew what was going on and they wanted to help, but they all knew that you can't help someone who doesn't want to be helped.

In those long three weeks a council had been formed to govern the growing group. Hershel, Carol, Sasha, Daryl and Glenn had all discussed if they should kick the couple out of the prison, but it didn't seem humane. Richard was nice to everyone and hadn't hurt anyone other than his wife. Carol and Daryl both said that they had offered her a way out and she hadn't taken it. So they decided the couple could stay, but if Charlotte ever took them up on their offer then they would kick Richard out of the prison, and give Charlotte the help she needed.

Charlotte was sitting in her prison within a prison reading a book that was propped up on her bent knees when Richard came in wearing a white apron that was covered in blood splatters. "I swear there is no end to those retched things. Every day we clear them off the fence and every morning they're back. It's like they can smell us or something."

"Maybe they can. It would make since for them to develop a heightened since of smell. We don't exactly smell dead like they do. They evolve-"

"I didn't come in here for a lecture." He cut her off and she sank back on the bed at his aggravated tone.

"Then what did you come in here for, to gloat?" she said as she crossed her arms over her chest and let her knees fall to sit Indian style.

"What did you just say to me?" he threw his dirty apron on the floor as he turned to her. She focused on the blood splatters that dotted his brow as they stared each other down. "Fuck it. I'm going to take a shower." He lost the match and scooped up his shower bag off the floor. His footsteps were heavy as he marched out of the cell leaving her once again.

She didn't know what she hated more, being around him all the time like before the prison, or being left alone ever since they got there. She was wondering if she would ever get to see the light of day again when Carol knocked on the doorframe. "Hey." She managed a small smile for the woman she was beginning to call her friend. Carol handed a Styrofoam bowl to her and she eyed its contents. The brown gravy inside was steaming and the chunks of light brown meat made Charlottes mouth water. "Daryl killed a deer this morning. I figured you might want something fresh." They both glanced at the two cans Richard had given her for lunch and dinner.

"Thanks. I can't tell you the last time I had deer." Charlotte said with one of the first genuine smiles Carol had seen on her since they met.

"Really, none of the groups you were with before hunted?" Carol asked with amusement, and Charlotte shook her head.

"Yeah, but Richards not the best hunter in the world and the other groups had rules. You kill it you keep it, no sharing. Bargaining worked sometimes, but we never really had anything to barter with. A couple of canned soups never won over fresh meat." Charlotte tried to keep the bitterness out of her voice. They had something, or rather someone, to barter but it wasn't a price she was willing to let her little sister pay.

"Well, that's not how things work here. We share, we care and we try to help others when we see that it's needed." Carol said as she sat down on the bed and watched Charlotte put a spoonful of stew in her mouth. Charlotte hummed in pleasure as she savored the delicious gamey meal. Carol laughed before her face turned serious. "Speaking of help, how are you doing? It doesn't look like he's hit you in a while."

Charlotte put the spoon back in the bowl and set it in her lap as she gazed down at it in thought. "I'm fine. He hasn't hit me hard enough to leave any marks, but he hasn't exactly been nice either. I don't think he will ever turn back into the man I married, the man I fell in love with."

"You make comments like that all the time." Carol observed. "He wasn't abusive when you married him?" Carol asked, expecting her to turn her nose up at the question and completely shut her out, but she didn't.

Charlotte just stood up and sat her bowl on the table attached to the wall. "No. Richard was a little controlling at the most, but he'd never hit me, never even yelled at me. But seven months after we got married…the accident…" she sighed not really knowing if she wanted to tell Carol about her past "Something happened and he just…snapped. He stopped looking at me, stopped talking to me, and stopped…loving me."

"The accident?" Carol asked, sounding confused and Charlotte ran her fingers through her oily hair to get it out of her face before she leaned against the wall and crossed her arms across her chest. "What kind of accident?" Carol knew she was probably pushing it, but she was too curious about what kind of accident could make a man hate the woman he married.

Charlotte sighed as she hugged herself. "We didn't want to be one of those couples that got married and immediately had kids. We wanted to enjoy being young newlyweds, ya know? But a month after we got married I found out that I was two months pregnant. It was unexpected, but we were both excited. We couldn't wait for her to get here so we could spoil her. I wanted to give her all of the things I couldn't have when I was little."

Carol didn't like where this story was headed and she noticed that Charlotte was on the verge of tears. Charlotte took a deep breath and swallowed hard. "By the time I was eight months pregnant the baby's room was all set up and ready to go, and Richard was spoiling me like crazy." Charlotte smiled to herself at the bitter sweet memory. "My sister had just given me a baby gift. Richard told me not to go upstairs. He said that if I needed something from up there that he would get it, but I didn't want to be a burden on him. So I brought the gift up there myself. Everything was fine until I started to go back down."

Charlotte paused to choke down a sob and wipe the tears that had started falling down her face, despite her fighting them. "My shoe got caught on a rip in the runner and I fell. Richard rushed me to the hospital, but it was too late." She wiped at the tears and forced them to stop before she looked up at Carol. "Madilyn Rose died and she took my husband with her."

Richard stood outside the cell, his fists clenched and his face red. He couldn't believe that she was telling their story to a complete and total stranger. It was none of Carol's business that his stupid wife killed his daughter. The police considered it an inevitable accident, but he didn't. If they wouldn't make her pay for what she had done then he would. He promised himself that he would make her pay for the rest of her life.

He stood there and listened to them talk. "It wasn't your fault. How were you supposed to know that the rug was torn? There was nothing you could have done." Carol tried to reassure her, but Richard had it drilled in her head that it was her fault and Carol couldn't convince her otherwise.

"Whatever, it doesn't matter anymore, and my stew's getting cold." Charlotte dismissed the subject with a wave of the hand and picked up her bowl. "Give my compliments to the chef." She spoke around the food in her mouth, making Carol smile.

"You just did, and you can give your compliments to the hunter tonight." Carol laughed, before she spun out of the cell and headed down the hall to the holding room. Richard had slipped into an empty cell so Carol wouldn't see him. He had heard what she said before she left and he didn't know what it meant, but he was sure as hell going to find out.

Charlotte had just finished her stew when Richard walked into the cell. "Where the hell did you get that?" he asked, pointing to the empty bowl sitting on the floor, and she told him Carol brought it by. She expected him to go off on her for letting Carol in the cell, but he didn't and she found it weird.

She found his behavior odd for the rest of the night. He didn't yell at her or hit her. He was quiet, too quiet. So when the sun was completely down and Richard had gone to bed, she found herself debating on whether or not she should go outside that night. But she missed the night air so much that she went against her best judgment, waiting until Richards heavy breathing indicated that he was asleep, then slipped out for the night.

She could see Daryl walking the perimeter with his cross bow on his back as she walked over to her table, pulled herself up to sit on the top and leaning back on her hands while looking up at the night sky. The night air gave her chill bumps and the mosquitoes were a little annoying, but the stars were bright, the moon was only a thin crescent, and the crickets were chirping in the background, but she loved it.

Anything was better than being inside that horrid cell all damn day, but looking at a night sky and knowing that if she were to fall asleep right there she would still be safe from the ugly walkers that had consumed the earth, or at least the United States. "Do you ever get tired of lookin' at those things?"

The southern voice that hit her ears didn't surprise her this time. While their conversations were usually short, she had grown to like them. She had more in common with him than anyone else. "Nope." She breathed, as she sat up and spun around to look at Daryl where he stood at the end of the table. "You should know that by now." Daryl didn't reply. He just looked at her, wondering why she looked at the stars when there were more interesting things all around her. When the silence became awkward between them she turned her gaze to the bow on his back. "Do you always have that thing with you?" she asked, and he just nodded. "Have you always known how to shoot it or was it something you learned how to do after the turn?" she asked, and he took it off his back and sat it on the table next to her before he sat down beside it.

His gaze was directed at the edge of the fence. "I've known how to shoot it since I was big enough to hold it, same with a gun."

She started thinking about her Grandfather and how he started teaching her and her sister how to hunt as soon as they moved in with him after their parents died. "Did your dad teach ya?" she asked, and he shook his head.

"Na, just something I had to learn." He mumbled, with a shrug and she pointed to the bow.

"Ya mind?" she asked, and he picked it up and handed it to her. She almost dropped it when he set it in her hand, but she quickly grabbed it with two and kept it from falling on the ground. "It's heavier than it looks." she said nervously, afraid that he would get mad at her. She looked over at him when she heard him chuckle. "What?"

"It's just a bow. Droppin' it ain't gonna hurt nothin', so relax." She just smiled, hooked the bow on the toes of her shoes and grabbed the string. She tried to pull it back but it didn't even budge. Daryl chuckled. _What is he laughing at?_ She thought to herself, before she pictured how she must look. A skinny woman with puny arms and thin fingers trying to pull back a bow that belonged to a man arms ten times the size of her. She couldn't help but start laughing at herself.

Richard stood hidden in the shadows of the building watching Charlotte laugh at something he couldn't hear. How long had she been sneaking out? How long had she been seeing this redneck asshole behind his back? Not only was his wife a baby killer, she was a two timing whore. He was about to march out of the shadows and give her a beating she would never forget when he remembered the man that was twice his size sitting next to his wife. He couldn't do what he wanted to her if he was around. So he gritted his teeth and sank into the shadows. She would get her punishment in due time.

Charlotte had stopped laughing and let go of the string. "I must be a sight. Scraggly little me trying to pull back _your_ bow. I couldn't hit a fly hard enough to kill it even if I wanted to." She sighed and handed the bow back to Daryl. _It's hard to believe that I could ever shoot anything_. Daryl threw the bow over his back and looked her up and down.

"Like I said. Do a couple push-ups and you'll be pullin' back that bow of yer's in no time." He said, before he hopped off of the table. "Gotta get back to watch." He mumbled, and started to walk off.

"Hey." He stopped and turned back to her. "I almost forgot to thank you." He gave her a look that asked what for. "That deer you killed, it was the best thing I have to eat in a year, so thanks."

"Welcome." He said stiffly before he turned back and started walking the fence line again. It wasn't hard to see that he didn't know how to take any kind of praise. It made Charlotte smile as she leaned back on her elbows and returned her gaze to the sky.

She stayed out there for a little while longer, she felt safe in the court yard. Richard wasn't there to hurt her, and the crickets chirping calmed her. The fact that Daryl was walking the perimeter was only a plus. But she had to go back inside before Richard realized she was gone. So she dragged herself back inside and slipped into their cell. Richards breathing was quieter than usual, but she paid it no attention as she slipped into bed next to him.

She had just settled in when she felt Richard quickly shift and the next thing she knew a thick strip of material had been hooked into her mouth. She felt Richards's hands on each end pulling back on it, stretching her lips with the force. She tried to scream for help but the cloth just absorbed the sound, and her clawing hands didn't even faze Richard. _Oh my god. I never should have left the cell tonight. Lord please help me._ She thought to herself as he used the gag to pull her from the bed and drag her through the cell block into some dark hall she had never been in.


	6. Chapter 6

**Everything is Transient**

_Watch the end through dying eyes_  
_Now the dark is taking over_  
_ Show me where forever dies_  
_ Take the fall and run to Heaven_

_ All is lost again_  
_ But I'm not giving in_

_ I will not bow_  
_ I will not break_  
_ I will shut the world away_  
_ I will not fall_  
_ I will not fade_  
_ I will take your breath away_

_ And I'll survive, paranoid_  
_ I have lost the will to change_  
_ And I am not proud, cold-blooded fake_  
_ I will shut the world away_  
_Open your eyes!_  
_Breaking Benjamin "I Will Not Bow"_

**Chapter 6**

Charlotte was completely immobilized. Richard had tied her hands in front of her and managed to shackle her feet together. On top of that she had been blind folded and the gag was still in her mouth. So she had to rely on her hearing just to determine where Richard was in the room. All she could hear at the moment was his thick soled shoes tapping against the cement as he paced in front of her where she stood leaning on the back wall of the room. So far binding her was all he had done and he hadn't said a word as to why he had taken her there. "Aren't you going to plead for your life?" he asked as he untied the material that had been gagging her for the past fifteen minutes. "Scream all you want, no one's going to hear you down here." He cooed menacingly before she punched her in the gut. She couldn't help but cry out from the pain.

"Why are you doing this?" her voice trembled form the fear that was bubbling in the pit of her stomach. The evil laugh that bellowed from his lips made her cringe.

"Are you kidding me? You really don't know why your down here?" she shook her head not trusting her voice. "Maybe your boyfriend would know." _Boyfriend? What boyfriend? …oh._ "Tell me, how long have you been sneaking off with him in the middle of the night?" she felt his cold fingers slide lightly over her arm. "Come on don't be tight lipped now. Tell me, how many times did you let him touch you? Let him run his dirty, white trash hands all over your body?"

"Shut up." He was pissing her off. Did he really think that she had been sleeping with Daryl? "He's nice, that's it. He never touched me!"

"You know," she wasn't expecting it when he paused to punch her in the face. "I actually almost believed you." His voice was kind but what happened next completely contradicted it. His knee came up making contact with her stomach. She tried to get away, but he was holding her shoulders so that she couldn't move. He continued to knee her over and over until she could no long her on in her screams. Finally he let her go and she collapsed to the floor.

"I hate you." She sobbed as she curled into the fetal position and let her fear consume her body.

"You know what?" he asked as he grabbed the rope that bound her hands and pulled her so that she was sitting on her knees. "I hate you too." She just sat there letting her head hang in shame. "And you want to know something else?" she just assumed that he was going to badmouth her some more. "I killed that whore sister of yours." That sentence sparked something in her and she managed to get on her feet.

"I knew it!" she breathed through her pain and glared at him even thought the black cloth over her eyes kept them hidden. "You bastard! Why? She never did anything to you." She was knocked back down when he kicked her in the side. She fell to the floor where she was writhing in pain.

"That _whore_ tried to take you from me." He growled as he towered over her. "But this isn't about me. You're down her because of your own actions and you never answered me. How long have you been sneaking around with him?" all she could do was moan in response. "You know what it doesn't matter because it's never going to happen again is it?" Charlotte shook her head as the ropes dug into her ankles and wrists.

The room was filled with screams as Richard kicked her repeatedly. When he got board of that he switched to punching. Some time after the second round of kicking he stopped and took the blindfold off of her. She pulled her knees to her chest trying to ease the agony that consumed her whole being. Her vision started tunneling as she looked at Richard where he had leaned down and grabbed her face in his strong hand. "I…loved…you." She managed to get out and he pulled a fake pouting face.

"Awe baby I loved you to." His face transformed in her shaky vision. "How am I supposed to love the woman that murdered my baby?"

"Not murder…" she breathed hard trying to talk through the pulsing pain. "Accident. Simple…mistake." He let go of her face and moved to stand at her side.

"Murderer!" he yelled and drew back his leg to kick her in the side. It was this blow that knocked her into a spiraling world of black.

~~~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~~~

When she woke up she throat was burning and her head was pounding. She looked around the room to see that Richard was gone. The ropes that had been on her wrists and ankles were gone and her blindfold had been removed. She didn't know where he had gone, but she was determined to get out of the room. Pain radiated from her side with every shallow breath she took and it only got worse when she stood up.

She managed to hobble over to the door and pull it open but when she stepped out into the hallway she doubled over and started coughing. Her hand was covered with blood when she pulled it away from her mouth and her heart fell. _I'm going to die, he's broken my ribs and it's punctured something. He's killed me._ She thought to herself as she looked around the dim halls. There were three different halls she could go down and she had no clue which one would lead her to help. "_You're strong, you can be strong._" her sister's voice echoed into her head. She still didn't think she could be strong, but she knew she had to try or she was going to die.

The scent of dust hung heavy in the air, if it was in the air then it had to be on the floor as well. So she gritted her teeth and kneeled down to the floor hoping that she could see Richards's footprints, but there were none. So she sighed, slowly stood up and decided to go down the hallway to the left. After a long time of walking, half leaning on the rough brick walls for support, the hallway split. She looked back and forth between the hallways.

Straight head of her was a high window. Morning light was shining through it making the dust in the air sparkle. She decided that light meant freedom, so she continued straight. The more windows she saw the more hopeful she got and soon she came to a barred door that she grasped tightly in an attempt to keep herself standing. It was getting increasingly harder for her to breath and as a wave of coughing took over her body her vision started to tunnel again. _Can't pass out again. Gotta stay awake. Passing out means death, death means walker. If I become a walker I'll hurt other people or get a knife in my eye. You can't you have to stay strong, stay awake._ She told herself as she lost her grip on the bars and crumpled onto the floor. She tried to yell for help, but her voice failed her. So she settled for simply trying to keep herself awake by studying the room on the other side of the bars. She could see an A on the wall across the room. _A block, our cell is in c block. I'm no where near help. Lord, please send someone to help me._ She prayed silently before she saw someone walk through the door that was next to the A. Her blurry vision kept her from seeing who it was, but she knew by the silhouette that it wasn't Richard.

She made herself lift her and hand hit the bars a couple of times alerting whoever it was of her presence before she let her hand fall back onto her lap. She hard a sharp whistle then several pars of feet heading toward her. Keys jingled before she felt the door that she was leaning on open and she fell into the room. Her eyes slid shut and she felt someone urgently slip their hand under her head keeping it off the hard floor. Someone pressed two fingers on her neck just below her jaw line feeling her slow pulse hitting against them.

"Charlotte come on, open your eyes." The female voice belong to Carol and charlotte felt as if her eyelids were made of lead as she slowly opened them and looked up at Carol. "Good, stay with me, stay awake okay?" she asked before she looked up and Charlotte followed her gaze to land on Glenn and Rick. "We can't carry her like this. She's beat up too bad." She spoke to the men before she looked back down at charlotte whose eyes were starting to slide shut again. "Hey look at me. Just keep looking at me. I'll get you out of here." She reassured Charlotte as Glenn spoke up.

"There's stretchers in the medical wing, I'll be back in a flash." She watched Glenn disappear before she looked back at Carol. She was fighting hard to keep her eyes open and the longer she fought the heaver they got. She turned her face from Carol as another wave of coughs hit her and blood sprayed from her mouth onto the floor.

She heard Rick cuss in the background and she looked weakly at Carol she knew by her expression that she was going to die. All of their attention went to Glenn when they heard him wheeling in a gurney. He pushed it so that it was parallel with her before he took the stretcher off the top of it and set it next to her. She was too weak to get in it herself so Rick and Carol helped her lie down before they all lifted her on the gurney and began wheeling her to cell block C.

"Glenn run ahead and tell Hershel we found her. Make sure he knows she's coughing up blood." Carol instructed. Glenn running down the hall ahead of them was the last thing Charlotte saw before her eyelids won the fight and her world went black again.

~~~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~~~

"Ugh." Charlotte moaned at the intense pain that repeatedly pulsed through her chest and side. She squeezed her eyes shut tightly because she was too afraid to open them. Too afraid to see if she was in hell or not.

"Daddy she's waking up." The soft voice of Beth let her know that she wasn't so she slowly opened her eyes and looked around the room. It felt like something had been wrapped around her head and he tried to feel of it, but she couldn't move her hands and the clanking of metal against metal let her know that she had been handcuffed to the bed. "Can I un-cuff her now?" Beth asked and Hershel nodded to her as he hobbled over to her and kneeled down to look at Charlotte.

He picked up a cup of water that had been sitting by the bed and she willingly took a long sip of it. She tried to sit up but a sharp pain shot through her side and she stopped. "I think you have two broken ribs. And your head's been cut pretty bad." He explained before he set the cup back down on the floor.

"Where's Richard?" she asked grittily and he shook his head as he shrugged his shoulder. "What does that mean?" she asked getting panicked as she painfully pushed herself up so that she was propped up on her forearms.

He huffed out a breath as he put his hands on her back and helped her sit up. "We'll talk about that later. Right now we need to make sure you are okay." It wasn't a request so she nodded her head and decided to cooperate with him. "I was afraid one of the ribs had punctured something when Glenn told me you were coughing up blood, but thank god that's not the case. There doesn't seem to be any internal bleeding and you look alert. Tell me how your feeling."

She took a minute to observe herself before she answered. There were bandages on her ankles and wrists and one on her head. Her body was covered with blue and yellow splotches and every muscles she had was aching her. "I fell sick to my stomach." She said and she realized that it was normal. She stayed sick to her stomach for a month after Richard put her in the hospital the first time.

Hershel nodded his head at her comment. "That's normal. You've been out for almost two days. You need to try and eat something, but let's see if you can walk first." He said as he backed off and Glenn entered the room and held his hand out to her. She just looked at him. She didn't know him that well. He was never on watch so she had never spoken to him. She didn't have to say why she didn't take his hand. It was obvious to everyone that she wasn't going to trust easily.

So Glenn left the room and not to long afterwards Daryl appeared and held his hand out to her. She just looked at him the same way she had looked at Glenn. She felt weird in his presence. _Richard thought I had slept with him. Should I take his hand? Is Richard still here? Will he see us together? Will he freak out and try to kill me again?_ "Where's Richard?" she asked looking between the three people in the room. Daryl dropped his hand and gave Hershel a nod.

With that Hershel started explaining. "He's gone. Someone said they saw him come back into the cellblock last might right before you came back inside. When Glenn went get him for fence clearing this morning he found the cell empty. So we all started looking and that's when we found you." He paused and let it all sink in. _He left, just like that?_ She asked herself before Hershel cleared his throat. "What exactly happened down there?" he asked making Charlottes wall come up. _He thought I was dead. He thought he had killed me, so he ran._

"It doesn't matter, he's gone and I'm…here." She said shaking her head as if to sling the bad memories out of her head. "Let's just see if I can walk so that I can get something to eat." She had determination written all over her face as she took Daryl's offered hand and stood wobbly onto her feet. Her wrapped his arms stiffly under her arms and she threw hers across his back and gripped his shirt for support. She hadn't realized that he was taller than him until then and she pushed the thought out of her head and focused on putting one foot in front of the other.

A small pain would shoot through her ankle every time she picked up her foot and pain radiated from down south. But she gritted her teeth and told her self that she could walk. She told Daryl that she could walk on her own, but both he and Hershel said she was too weak. So he helped her to the holding room and didn't let go until she was sitting safely on the metal stool at one of the tables. "Thanks." She said quietly as she let go of his shirt and he took his arm from around her waist where it had slid while she was walking.

"Welcome." He answered gruffly before he walked off and Carol met her with a hot bowl of broth.

"I didn't think it would be good for you to have something too heavy on your stomach." She explained at Charlotte's clear disappointment. "Sorry its not deer stew." She said with an apologetic smile before she walked away to let her eat in piece.

She was feeling a little better by the time she had finished eating her chicken broth and soon Hershel joined her at the table. "Try not to bend and twist a lot. You want to give those ribs time to heal." She nodded at his instructions as she nervously picked at her fingernails. "And try to get plenty of rest, doctors orders." He smiled before he walked off to talk to Beth.

She didn't know what to do with herself so she stood and slowly started walking to her cell. When she got there she gazed around the room and saw that all of Richard's clothes were gone along with the backpack that Maggie had given them. All of a sudden it hit her that Richard really was gone. Her husband beat her until he thought she was dead then ran. Although he had been horrible to her a small, deeply buried part of her still loved him.

While she had come to know Carol, Daryl and Rick she didn't know anyone else and overwhelming loneliness settled itself heavily on her shoulders. She crossed her arms over her chest as she sank down on the bed and let years' worth of restrained tears slide down her cheeks.


	7. Chapter 7

**Everything Is Transient**

_I am unwritten, can't read my mind, I'm undefined_

_I'm just beginning, the pen's in my hand, ending unplanned_

_Staring at the blank page before you_

_Open up the dirty window_

_Let the sun illuminate the words that you could not find_

_Reaching for something in the distance_

_So close you can almost taste it_

_Release your inhibitions_

_Feel the rain on your skin_

_No one else can feel it for you_

_Only you can let it in_

_No one else, no one else_

_Can speak the words on your lips_

_Drench yourself in words unspoken_

_Live your life with arms wide open_

_Today is where your book begins_

_The rest is still unwritten_

_"Unwritten" Natasha Bedingfield_

**Ch. 7**

Charlotte had spent the last four weeks getting back on her feet. As soon as she could she started working out in the gym that Daryl had told her about. She was anxious to get her strength built back up so that she could start hunting again. Being back in the woods, walkers or not, was her number one priority. She had also decided to start getting close to people again. Richard had held her back from having friends in the past and now he wasn't there to do that anymore.

She had gotten close to Carol and was starting to form a friendship with Karen while she helped her take out the walkers that were building on the fences at night. She would even help Rick out in the garden every once in a while. Having grown up with a grandfather that liked to live off the land, she naturally picked up a few things about it. She had even promised Rick that nothing he grew would go to waste, because her grandfather had taught her to can almost everything he grew.

She had been lonely the first few days after Richard disappeared, but she soon realized that she wasn't alone. These people wouldn't let her be. Hershel had looked after her like she was his own child, and when she still snuck out at night Rick and Daryl were there for her to talk to.

Daryl had offered for her to go hunting with him, but at the time she still couldn't pull back her bow and felt like she would only slow him down. But she had been able to pull back the bow for a few days now and as soon as the sun came up she was outside practicing on the underside of a picnic table. She had been used to shooting it with a release, but she hadn't found one with the bow, so she was having to use her fingers which was making her aim inconsistent. "Not bad." The southern voice behind her startled her, and she visibly stiffened out of reflex, before she relaxed and turned to face him as she nocked an arrow. "Form could use some work though." He said as he crossed his arms and tucked his fingers into the armholes of his sleeveless shirt.

She just rolled her eyes at his comment and turned her attention back to her spray painted target and pulled back the string. "Give me a break. I've only been back at it for two days." She said with a smile in her voice, before she anchored the arrow to her mouth, made sure the string was touching the tip of her nose then released a light breath and let the arrow fly. "Damn it." She sighed to herself as she dropped the bow to her side and walked to pluck her arrows from the table.

"Having trouble?" he asked with a smirk, where he sat on anther table watching her aggravation play across her bright eyes as she walked over, sat the bow down and started putting the arrows back in the holder that was attached to the bow.

The wind blew her loose hair into her face and she tucked it behind her ear before she looked up at him, squinting in the morning sun. "I can't hit the same spot twice. I'm not as consistent as I used to be. Then again I used to use a release." She explained before she stared at the bow.

Daryl dug around in his hunting bag until he found what he was looking for and pulled it out. "You mean one of these?" he asked, as he held it out to her.

A smile spread across her face when her eyes landed on the bow release sitting in the palm of his hand. "Where did you get this?" she asked with a laugh, as she took it from him and strapped it to her wrist.

"We found a sporting goods store last week, figured ya could use that sooner or later." He explained earning a smile from her as she tested the trigger. He eyed the red splotch down her inner forearm. "Looks like you could use this too." He said as he pulled out an arm guard and handed it to her.

She took it from him feeling a little ashamed that she had forgotten to bend her elbow before she let go of the string. "You just think of everything don't you?" she asked playfully, as she put on the armguard. When she had it securely buckled to her arm she turned to her target, clipped the release onto the D-loop and pulled the bow back before she took a small breath a released it as she pulled the release trigger. The arrow hit the center of her target and she excitedly repeated her actions to see if she could hit the bull's eye again. When the arrow hit right next to her other one she felt like jumping up and down with excitement. If Daryl hadn't been watching her she would have, but instead she settled for the biggest smile she could manage as she turned toward him.

He clapped a few times in approval. "Nice job." He said around the cinnamon stick in his mouth as she walked over to stand in front of him.

"Thanks." She said as she examined the release and he waved her off. "No, I mean it. You didn't have to get me this stuff. You didn't have to think about me at all, but you did." He didn't do well with praise, she knew that, but she also wasn't going to not thank him for what he had given her. So instead of hugging him like she wanted to she just smiled awkwardly and started gathering up her stuff. She made a mental note to try and come up with a gift that she could give to him in return.

Daryl cleared his throat before he turned around and stopped her from taking off her arm guard. "I was about to go huntin, ya wanna come?" the first time he had asked her she told him to ask her again when she could actually contribute. _I guess he thinks I'm ready. Am I ready to get back out there?_ Now that her chance had finally come, she was having second thoughts. _What if I get out there and a heard comes through or, or, or…_ Daryl could tell by the zoned out look on her face that she was panicking. So he whistled and waved his hand in her face. "You hoo you alive in there?" She blinked a few times remembering that Daryl had asked her a question. "Ya comin?"

"Uh, yeah. Sure." She answered still half stuck in her thoughts as she gathered her arrows, put them back in the holder and grabbed the bow. "Ready whenever you are." She said motioning for him to go ahead.

They walked together in comfortable silence until she got into the forest. As soon as she stepped into the woods her scenes came alive. Dirt, dew and pine mixed together to make a scent that made her feel full of life and relaxed at the same time. When she was in the woods she not only felt more like her old self, but she felt as if her grandfather was still with her.

The man had never liked Richard, but he could tell that he loved Char and she loved him. So he didn't object when Richard asked him for her hand, but it was easy for her to see that her grandfather wished she would have married someone that was more like her, woodsy and strong, not a business man that wouldn't allow his granddaughter to be who she was.

And this is who she was, a hunter, a woman that should have been living off of the land this whole time. But when she married Richard she was twenty years old and in love. She couldn't see who Richard made her become. And now she wished she would have found someone else, someone who understood her and wouldn't keep her from doing the things that she loved.

She hadn't realized that she had gotten so lost in thought and had stopped walking to look at her surroundings and listen to the birds that chirped in the trees above them. When her eyes landed on Daryl he was just standing there watching her. She just shrugged of her odd behavior and walked ahead of him lowering her eyes to the ground in front of her. When she spotted some tracks she stopped and squatted down to examine it. _It's a rabbit, but they're old,_ she thought to herself before she stood back up.

Daryl just watched her intently knowing that the tracks were old. When she stood up he could tell by the look on her face that she knew it too. So he jerked his head in the direction that he knew they should be going and she decided to let him do the tracking for now since she was so rusty.

They walked side by side as he tracked his kill. She had gotten so caught up in the task at hand that she didn't even realized how close together they were walking until they both spotted a rabbit and Daryl elbowed her to let her know he was giving her the chance to shoot it. So she was so close to him that she had to take a quiet step to the side so she could raise her bow.

She felt like it was her first time all over again as she clipped the release on to the string and pulled back the bow. She could easily place her sights on it through the thin brush that it was hidden under. The deep breath she took stilled her shaking hand before she released the breath as she pulled the trigger. She suppressed the urge to do the same happy dance that made her grandfather laugh the first time she killed an animal with him.

She just smiled widely as she picked up the rabbit and tucked it into the game bag on Daryl's side that she had seen him pull his kill out of before. He just smirked and shook his head, surprised that she had actual gotten it on her first try. After that they took turns killing whatever they came upon and by the time they headed back to the prison they had three rabbits and three squirrels in the bag. All three of the rabbits where hers and she gladly took them as Daryl handed them to her while they waited for Carl to pull open the heavy metal doors.

"How'd it look out there?" Maggie asked as she opened the second gates.

"Wasn't bad. Only killed three." Daryl said. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that she was asking about the walkers. "They're not as bad out there as they are once they catch wind of us and start pressing their faces to the fence." He explained as he and Charlotte walked through the gate and she closed it behind them.

It was then that she realized that Carl and Maggie were there because they had just let Glenn and Tyreese, who had left early to go on a run, back into the prison. The two men stood beside the truck talking to someone she had never seen before. "Looks like they found a straggler." Daryl observed as they started walking over to the men.

"Well look who's out and about." Glenn said with a smile as they neared him. She just smiled in response before turning her attention to the new guy. He was dirty, smelly and looked like he hadn't eaten in weeks, but he had a smile on his face that made his bright green eyes shine. "This is Jackson Reese."

The guy's smile got a little bigger as he held his hand out to Daryl who gave it one good shake before he dropped it and told him his name. "And your name is?" The guy asked as he extended his hand out to Charlotte and she took it lightly as he gave it a few gentle shakes as she told him her name. "You hunt much Char?" the guy asked with a curious tilt of his head as he took in the bow that was tucked under her arm and the rabbits in her hand.

_I thought everyone had to learn to hunt now days._ She thought to herself. "Today's my first day back out there, but I plan on goin' as often as I can." It suddenly hit her that maybe Daryl didn't want her tagging along with him every time he went hunting. "Well as long as Daryl doesn't mind my company that is." She added with a hopeful look up at Daryl who just scoffed at her. _Okay then, maybe it got on his nerves._ She thought before she shrugged and turned her attention back to Jackson.

"That's cool." Jackson replied with an approving nod before he turned his attention back to Glenn and Tyreese and she and Daryl went their own way.

They gutted and skinned their kills in silence, then combined the meat in a clean bucket. She was about to bring it to Carol when Daryl cleared his throat getting her attention. When she turned back to him he sat down the slop bucket and wiped off his bloody hands before he started digging around in his bag. "Forgot to give this to ya earlier." He said as he pulled out something that was still in its original packaging and handed it to her.

"Okay this is new to me. What is it?" she asked and he smirked at her before he took it from her and held his hand out for her bow. She gave it to him and he sat it down on the table that was near them.

"It's a bow sling." He said as he cut the package open and pulled out the long strap and a couple of other small parts. She just stood by and watched as he attached the thing to the limbs of her bow then held it out to her.

She took it and put it over her shoulder so that the strap went across her chest and the bow hung on her hip. "Huh." She said as she examined it. "This is awesome, now I don't have to drop my bow on the ground every time I come across a walker." She picked up the bow and mimicking the shooting position before she let it fall back to her hip. "You really do think of everything." She smiled at him, and he just snorted at her praise before he started walking to the prison. She grabbed the bucket of good meat and started to follow him. "Hey,"

"I know yer gonna thank me. Ya can save yer breath." He said to her over his shoulder and she just laughed at him before she headed over to Carol. The older woman had anticipated the arrival of fresh meat and had already gotten a fire started in the homemade stove. The pavilion that it was under was still under construction, but that didn't stop people from lounging at the picnic tables that had been lined up under it.

"Nice bow." Carol smiled when she walked up and handed her the bucket. "I take it you went hunting with Daryl?" she asked making Charlotte smile in response. "How was it?"

Charlotte sighed smiled "Breathtaking."

"Daryl's that good huh?" Carol asked elbowing the younger woman who looked like she was in love. Charlotte blushed embarrassed by Carol's teasing as they both laughed.

"It wasn't like that. It just… it felt good being back out there doing the one thing that I'm good at, ya know?" Charlotte took some meat out of the bucket and placed it on the grill. "Is that a stupid thing to say?" she asked, and Carol shook her head. She was glad that Char hadn't let what happened to her hold her down.

"I hear you ladies have something good to eat." Jackson walked over and flashed them the same bright smile she had seen on him earlier. He had taken a shower and with all of the dirt gone from his face she could now see the small light freckles that peppered his nose and cheeks. He introduced himself to Carol before turning his attention back to Charlotte. "You know Char, where I come from the hunter doesn't cook and the cook doesn't clean."

She tried to ignore the way his dark curls bounced whenever he moved his head, but she couldn't, and his smile was intoxicating. She couldn't help but smile back when she looked at him. "Good because I'm a crappy cook." She said, taking a step back from the grill and pointed to Carol. "She's head cook most days." His attention turned to Carol who gave him an estimate of how long it would be until the food would be ready.

He walked off and started talking to other people that were lounging around the tables. "He's cute huh?" Carol asked and Char couldn't deny that she was right so she simply hummed out a positive answer as she focused on putting the rest of the meat on the grill. "I think he might like a certain someone." When Char looked up to see who the certain someone she was talking about was she found the guy looking right at her.

She just looked down hoping her loose hair would hide her reddening face. "I think you're full of it." She was about to go to her cell and read for a little while when Carol calling Jackson over made her feet stick to the floor like someone had put glue on her boots.

"Has anyone shown you around the prison yet?" Carol asked, and he told her that the only thing he had been shown was his cell block and the showers. "Maybe Char here will show you around." Char felt her eyes get big at Carol's request and both of the people were looking at her.

"Uh sure, I can do that." She stammered unable to process what Carol had just volunteered her to do. "I'll meet you in the holding room in five?" she asked, and Jackson gave her a smile and a nod as he headed toward the building. As soon as he was out of earshot she slapped Carol on the arm and let the nervous tension she was holding in come out in a whispered assault. "What are you doin'!? I don't want to show him around. I don't even know him." Her rushed words only made Carol laugh.

"Sure looked like you wanted to show him around." Carol said, before she mimicked Char's stuttered response it a super girly voice. "Uh, sure, I can do that." She smiled only to stop when Char glared at her.

"I didn't sound like that." _Yes you did._ "And what was I supposed to say? You put me on the spot I had no choice." Carol started to feel bad when she saw that Char was on the verge of a panic attack.

"Whoa okay, breath. I'm sorry, I didn't know you were going to freak out." Char leaned against the side of the grill and crossed her arms over her chest as she focused on breathing. "Look if you don't want to show him around I'll do it, it's not a big deal." She said rubbing Char's shoulder to comfort her.

Char took a deep breath before she thought about what she had conquered earlier in the day. _If you can kill a rabbit, you can show a man around the prison. You are strong, you can be strong._ "No, then he'll think I hate him or somethin'. I'll do it, just…don't do that again." She replied before she headed to the holding room with her arms crossed and her head set on her goal. Showing someone the ropes without turning into a klutz. Jackson was cute, he looked to be around Char's age and according to Carol he was interested in her.

Before she married Richard she hadn't had the best luck with men. Every time one of her friends would tell her they thought a guy liked her she would turn into a giant ball of clumsy around him. _I'm screwed._ She thought to herself as she placed her hand on the doorknob and took a calming breath.


	8. Chapter 8

**Everything Is Transient**

_All I knew this morning when I woke  
is I know something now, know something now I didn't before.  
And all I've seen since eighteen hours ago  
is green eyes and freckles and your smile  
In the back of my mind making me feel like_

_I just wanna know you better, know you better know you better now._

_I just wanna know you, know you_

_'Cause all I know is we said, "Hello."_  
_And your eyes look like coming home_  
_All I know is a simple name_  
_Everything has changed_  
_All I know is you held the door_  
_You'll be mine and I'll be yours_  
_All I know since yesterday is everything has changed_  
_"Everything Has Changed" Taylor Swift_

**Ch. 8**

When she pulled open the door her eyes instantly went to him where he sat having a conversation with some other men. Bright sunlight filled the room and he turned to see who had opened the door. when he saw it was her he excused himself from the conversation. "So what all is there to see in this place?" he asked with a bright smile and she found herself wondering if he ever stopped smiling.

"Uh, not a lot really, just the gym and the library." It was then that she thought of something that might save her time and embarrassment. "I can just tell you how to get there if you would prefer that." Her hope of getting out of giving him a tour was shattered when he shook his head.

"Na, I don't do to well with verbal directions. I'm more of a visual learner you know?" he didn't miss the way her shoulders fell at his statement. "Unless you just don't want to give me a tour."

"No, it's no problem, I just didn't know if you wanted to get back to your conversation." She said quickly covering for herself as she motioned to the men he had previously been talking to. He told her he didn't. "Okay, let's get goin then." She started walking to the closed barred door.

When she pulled the door open the corner of it caught her shoe pulling it out from under her. She stumbled forward and landed on her hands and knees. Jackson walked over and offered her his hand and she took it letting him pull her to standing. The jar of the fall sent a shot of pain through her side and she pressed her hand to it in an attempt to sooth it as they walked. Jackson noticed her pained expression. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." She said instantly dropping her hand from her side. About that time they came to the library so she opened the door. "This is the library." He wrinkled his nose at the contents of the room.

"I don't read much." He explained before she closed the door and they continued walking in silence. She could feel his eyes on her and when she looked over at him he just smiled. This one little action caused her heart to skip a beat. "So do you read?" he asked curiously and she simply said yes.

They stopped walking when they came to a set of double doors. "This is the Gym, obviously." She said as she reached for the door handle but he put his hand on hers for a second to stop her.

"I hope this isn't too forward of me, but I get the feeling you don't want to be here." he asked and she didn't know what to say. "You just look… uncomfortable."

"No I want to be here I just…um." She took a step back to put distance between them and when she did she stepped on an empty shotgun shell. She would have busted her butt had it not been for Jackson's fast reflexes. He looped his arm around her waist pulling her into him. She was way too close to him for comfort. But as her eyes slid from where her hand rested on his shoulder up to meet his something changed. She was suddenly enchanted by the bright green depths of his eyes and the way his arm gently held her to him.

Before she knew what was happening his lips pressed gently to hers. She found herself mindlessly melting into him, returning the light kisses he feathered across her lips. She laced her arms around his neck and wove her fingers through his tight raven black curls.

His grip on her waist tightened slightly as his other and cupped her face. She felt his tongue slide alone her bottom lip asking for permission that she willingly granted him. As the kiss deepened he guided her back to the wall and his hands slid to rest on her hips. He nipped playfully at her bottom lip as he pulled her hips into his. But he accidentally bit too hard and a sharp pain shot through her lip bringing visions of Richard to the front of her muddled mind.

_Richard straddled her bruised, half naked body as he held her to the bed. He was kissing her so hard it hurt. She tried to wiggle out of his grip but all it did was make him even more ruthless. He sank his teeth into her bottom lip, drawing blood to the surface. He only stopped when she stopped fighting._

She cried out from the pain of the bad memory as she shoved him off of her. He stumbled back into the opposite wall and instantly started apologizing. But she didn't hear any of it. All she could hear was Richards's voice in her head calling her a slut as she took off running. She didn't know if he was running after her and she didn't care to.

She ran until she crashed into her cell. She stood in the center of it breathing hard as she looked around her. Tears streamed down her face as her chest heaved with every heavy breath she took. _How could you make out with a total stranger? I was right, you are nothing but a dirty fucking slut!_ Richard's voice echoed in her head and she placed her hands over her ears trying to make it go away. "Shut up, shut up shut up." She hissed to Richard. "Think of something happy." She told her self as she squeezed her eyes shut and tried to remember a time she was happy.

_"That's my girl!" her grandpa laughed after they watched a ten point buck fall to the ground. He slapped her on the back in congratulations._

_"When am I gonna get to shoot a deer grandpa?" Abby asked jealous of her sister's kill and her grandpa only laughed._

_"When you hit the bulls eye on the targets at home I'll take you huntin, just the two of us." He promised the small girl who started beaming at her family._

When she opened her eyes Richards's voice was gone and Carol was standing in her doorway. "What happened? Hershel said he saw you runnin through the place like you had seen a ghost." She said as she walked into the room and they both took a seat on the bed. Char couldn't come up with the words to explain what had happened. "If he did something I need to know about it so we can take care of it." Concern was written all over Carol's face.

"He didn't do anything." Char answered still half caught up in her own confusion. "Not anything that needs taking care of anyways." It was easy for Carol to see that whatever happened was something deeper than the new guy's actions.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Carol asked sounding more like a mother than Char had ever heard her sound before.

_Do I want to tell Carol what happened or will it only giver her more reasons to push Jackson and me together?_ "No, not right now. All I'll tell you is that he didn't do anything wrong." _Not on purpose anyways._ Carol patted Char on the knee before she left the room.

Char only stayed in her cell long enough to get herself together. She still had jobs to do around the prison and she wasn't going to make someone else do it because she wanted to sit around hand have a pity party.

She spent the rest of her day doing her everyday activities. If she saw Jackson she pretended that nothing had ever happened between them. She thought that it was the best thing to do. It seemed cruel to be mad at him for something he didn't mean to do. The more she thought about it the more it seemed like neither of them had meant for the kiss to happen, it just did. Once it did happen she was too caught up in how good it felt to try to stop it. Thankfully she didn't run into him that often.

When night time finally rolled around she found herself needed to escape more than usual. So she slipped outside just like she had been every since she got to the prison. She sat down on her bench and leaned back to look up at the same stars she had looked at the previous night and the nights before.

She had been looking at them remembering how nice Jackson's hands had felt on her when she heard someone clear their throat behind her. She stiffened out of reflex before she made herself relax only to stiffen again when she saw Jackson. "May I join you?" His hands were tucked into his pants pockets as he rocked back and forth on his feet. His mop of tight black curls bounced every time he rocked back on his heels. She tried to push the thought of how cute he looked standing there, nervously awaiting her answer, out of her head but she couldn't.

"You may." She said not smiling even though she wanted to. He sat down in the center of the table while she sat on the end.

He fiddled his slender thumbs as he stared at the ground. "I wanted to apologize for my earlier actions. It was very presumptuous of me." He was apologizing for kissing her, but she wasn't entirely sure she wanted him to. It wasn't his actions that she minded, it was hers.

"No, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have run off like that. I didn't mind…the kiss, it was…enjoyable it's just…" _I'm a damaged, broken idiot._ She finished the sentence in her head.

"It's just that we don't know each other." He finished for her. It wasn't what she was going to say but it was true. So she nodded her head in agreement. It got quiet between them before he spoke again. "So it was enjoyable huh?" he asked with a flirty smile that made her cheeks glow red as they both laughed. She hummed out a positive answer. "Wanna do it again?" he asked flashing another bright smile and she watched the freckles at the corner of his eyes wrinkle.

"Not until we get to know each other better lover boy." He laughed at her as he looked down at the ground nodding his head in defeat.

"Okay so let's get to know each other." He said seriously making her look at him. "Let's take turns asking each other questions. I'll go first if you want me to." _This sounds stupid._ She thought to herself but gave him a signal to ask away. "Okay, I noticed your tattoo, can I look at it and why did you get it?" he asked and she hesitantly held her wrist out to him. She silently hoped that the dark lighting masked the fresh scar that ringed her wrist right above the tattoo.

"I got it because of what it represents." She answered shortly and he asked what it was and what it meant. "It's a phoenix. Different people say it means different things, but to me it represents rebirth and strength. My sister had one too, but I think she mainly got it because she was fifteen and it looked cool." She explained with a laugh and he told her it was her turn to ask a question. "Okay, do you have any tattoos?"

He smiled sheepishly. "Yeah, I have one on my back." She was debating rather or not she wanted to ask to see it when he pulled his shirt off and turned his back to her. When her eyes landed on the black Hilyan crest on his back she started laughing. His shoulders fell instantly.

She stopped laughing when she saw his reaction but she couldn't wipe the smile form her face. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to laugh, but you just don't look like a videogame person." When he turned back around her eyes slid to rest on his flat, toned stomach. She made herself look up at his face when his shirt slid back into place.

"I was made videogames before the end, or turn or whatever you call it." She couldn't wrap her head around what he had just said. She had always pictured the guys that made videogames to look like complete nerds, but now that she really looked at him she could totally see him sitting in front of a TV goofing around with his buddies while they played their games.

"Okay, I have to ask, why did you get a Legend of Zelda tattoo?" she said cracking a smile that he returned before he started telling her about how the got drunk on his eighteenth birthday and he let his friends pick his tattoo. "You're friends sound like jerks." She laughed but he shook his head.

"Na, they knew I would grow to like it. Besides, it makes a great conversation starter." He joked making her smile. "Okay, my turn. What did you do before the world fell apart?"

She hated his question. Her world didn't fall apart when the dead started coming back to life, her world ended the day her child died. But that was in her past so she decided to burry it and keep it there. "I was a housewife, but before that I was a bank teller."

"So you've been married before?" she hadn't realized that she let that slip until he asked that question. "Sorry I shouldn't have asked that. It's none of my business." He countered noticing the down turned corners of her lips.

"No, it's fine. You should probably know that I consider myself recently divorced." He looked a little worried at her confession.

"So where's your ex-husband? I don't have to worry about him breaking my jaw do I?" he asked and she started laughing.

"No, he just up and left one day and I haven't seen him since, nor do I want to." Relief washed over his face. "So where you ever married?" she asked and he shook his head but she noticed that his usual happy expression was gone.

"I didn't have a wife, but I had an ex girlfriend and a son." He heart fell. "I got a text message from her before all the cell phones stopped working telling me that my son had been bitten and that she was taking him to the hospital."

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry." She knew what it was like to loose a child, but not to one of those monsters. She felt like crying and he could tell that he had killed the light mood with his questions.

"Don't be. To be honest I'm glad he doesn't have to grow up in this world." It was sad, but she could understand his reasoning. "But let's not talk about that any more." He said forcing a smile onto his face.

"Okay, what do you want to talk about then?" she asked and his smile turned flirty again.

"When I'm going to get to kiss you again." He slid closer to her. She scooted away forgetting that she was already sitting at the edge of the table and she fell off landing on her side. A loud yelp escaped her lips and she curled into the fetal position as pain radiated from her ribs. Jackson didn't know what to do. He didn't understand why she was in so much pain from simply falling off a table.

Daryl heard her scream from across the yard and by the time he got to her Jackson had helped her up and she was sitting on the bench holding her side. "What happened?" Char glanced up at him not having heard him run up.

"She fell of the table." Jackson answered seeing that she was in too much pain to answer.

"I didn't ask you I asked her." He growled making Char look up at him. Daryl had always spoken so softly to her. She had never heard him sound so harsh. "That what happened?" his voice was softer when he spoke to her.

His behavior was confusing her. "Yeah." She said through gritted teeth as she stood up. "I think I might have re-broke one of them." Jackson just looked back and forth between the two. What did she re-break?

"I'll go get Hershel?" Daryl said as he started to run off but she stopped him.

"No, don't make him come all the way out here in the middle of the night." The pain was starting to ease up, but every breath she took sent a dull pain shooting through her side. "I'm gonna go lay down. I'll talk to him in the morning." She said and Daryl looped his arm around her waist pushing Jackson away from her in the process. "Daryl I can walk on my-" she was cut off when he bent down and looped his other arm around the back of her knees picking her up without causing her anymore pain than what she was already experiencing. "Okay, well I guess I see you tomorrow Jackson." She said over Daryl's shoulder where Jackson was still standing at the bench confused.

She couldn't exactly fight Daryl, so she let him carry her to her cell where he sat her gently down on the bed. "That was a little uncalled for don't you think?" she asked and he shrugged like he didn't know what she was talking about.

"Nope, you were in pain. I got ya here quicker than walkin would have." While his logic wasn't flawed, the way he treated Jackson was.

"You didn't have to treat him like that. He didn't hurt me. I really did fall of the bench." Daryl just pretended like he hadn't heard her and walked out of her cell without another word.

She fell asleep trying to figure out why Daryl had acted the way he had, but she couldn't.


	9. Chapter 9

**Everything Is Transient**

_You got me tripping, stumbling, flipping, fumbling_  
_ Clumsy cause I'm falling in love_  
_ You got me slipping, tumbling, sinking, fumbling_  
_ Clumsy cause I'm falling in love_  
_ So in love with you_

_ Can't help it_  
_ The girl can't help it [repeat 3x]_

_ Can't breath_  
_ When you touch my sleeve_  
_ Butterflies so crazy, mmm mmm_  
_ Whoa now, think I'm going down_  
_ Friends don't know whats with me, mmm mmm  
"clumsy"-Firgie_

**Ch. 9**

Char woke the next morning to find that her side had stopped throbbing. She stood and twisted testing it to find that it was back to normal. Her fall the previous night had just aggravated the injury. She had just finished getting dressed when she heard a knock at her sheeted door. She pulled it back to see Hershel. He smiled at her when he saw that she was up and about. "Daryl said you fell last night and hurt your side. Do you want me to take a look at it?"

She shook her head. "No, it's not hurting anymore, I think the fall just made the fractures angry for a bit." She explained and he asked her if she was sure. "Yeah, I'm sure, but thanks anyways." She smiled at him and he patted her on the shoulder before he walked away.

She was in the middle of brushing her teeth when she hard another knock. She pulled the curtain back, with the tooth brush hanging out of her mouth, to reveal Jackson with his hands tucked into his pockets and a neutral expression on his face. She stared at him for a second before it donned on her that she should say something. She took the toothbrush from her mouth and stepped aside "Uh, come in." she said blinking rapidly to clear her mind.

After he walked in she spat the tooth paste into the sink and rinsed her mouth out with the bottle of water that she had written her name on with a sharpie. "You look like you're feeling batter." He observed from where he stood at the end of her bed. She avoided seeing herself in the mirror as she turned from the sink and faced him.

"I guess you want an explanation about that." She observed and he took one of his hands from his pocket to grab the bedpost and leaned against it.

"If you don't mind." She wasn't used to seeing him so serious. She took a deep breath, debating on what she should tell him. How could she explain her broken ribs without telling him about her horrid past. "Look I know we don't know each other, but it seems like there's something bigger going on here than simply falling off a bench. And I want you to know that whatever it is that you're thinking so hard about right now, you can tell me."

She could see that there was more to this man than flirty looks and a bright smile. So she decided to tell him. _What do I have to loose?_ "Okay, I'll tell you, but just know that you're free to go running in the other direction after I do." She sat down on the bed and she motioned to the end of it for him to sit. She told him everything from the way Richard abused her to him killing her sister then trying to hill her. The only things she left out was why Richard felt the need to punish her and that he tried to kill her because he saw her talking to Daryl. She expected him to just sit there staring at her or to get up and walk out when she finished her story, but he didn't.

He shook his head looking confused. "Why would that make me run in the other direction?" he didn't say he was sorry, he didn't pity her, and she was thankful for that. She didn't want to be pitied by anyone, especially him.

"Because I'm…damaged goods." He rolled his eyes at her like that was the most absurd thing he had ever heard. "I'm serious. When you kissed me in that hallway, I didn't run because you offended me or because I didn't want to be kissed. I ran because you bit my lip and the first thing that popped into my head was Richard biting me until my lip bled."

He could see that she was getting emotional and he couldn't stand seeing her that way. All he wanted to do was take her in his arms and kiss her pain away. He settled for scooting closer to her. "I'm not him. I admire you. Any woman that can take what he dished out and still keep breathing and thriving like you are, is a woman worth the love of a good man." She had never had someone talk to her they way he was, and for the first time in a long time she felt like she did deserve to be loved.

She looked into his bright green eyes and smiled before she realized that the day wasn't going to put itself on hold for her to talk to Jackson. She stood up and threw her bow sling over herself before she latched the bow to in and grabbed her belt that had her knife strapped to it. "I better be going. Daryl's gonna be heading into the woods soon."

"Yeah about him," he said as he moved to stand in front of her, "Is there something going on between the two of you that I need to know about?" she shook her head and told him no. "Are you sure? The way he carried you inside sure made it look like there is."

"I don't know what got into him, but I assure you we're just friends." She said slipping on her shoes before she sat down on the bed and started tying them.

"Does that mean there's nothing to stop us from getting to know each other?" he asked as she stood up and met him where he stood in the doorway. A coy smile stretched across her face making him smile back before she pressed her lips to his. She didn't let the kiss last long before she slipped around him and started walking away. "Wait, what does that mean?" She didn't answer him. She decided that if he was smart, he would be able to figure it out.

When she found Daryl in his cell, the sheet door was pulled back and she could clearly see him from where she stood on the perch unnoticed. She watched the lean muscles of his upper arms flex as he slipped on his vest then turned to see her standing there. "Hey." He greeted her simply and she had to wonder what he was thinking about right now and if it had anything to do with why he insisted on carrying her to her cell when she was perfectly cabible of walking on her own.

"Hey, mind if I go hunting with you again? I kinda wouldn't mind getting away for a little while." she asked and he simply told her that he didn't mind. "Okay, I'm ready when ever you are." She started to walk off and wait for him in the holding room, but he grabbed his bow and grunted out that he was ready. She didn't know why but something wasn't right with him. He seemed angrier than usual, he wouldn't meet her eyes and he had been rude to Jackson. She hadn't seen him be rude to anyone before.

He was closing the prison doors when he finally said more than one word to her. "So it the whole prison you want to get away from, or just pretty boy?" he asked not looking at her before he turned his back and started walking to the bridge that crossed over the small river.

She didn't think too hard about her answer before she said it. "I guess a little of both, why?" she asked because his question struck her as odd.

"Doesn't matter." He shrugged off hr question and kept on walking, but she jogged up to walked briskly beside him.

"Yeah it does." He scoffed at her making her jump in front of him in an attempt to stop him. "Somethin's bothering you, I can tell." A snarl interrupted their conversation and she turned to see a half rotted corps emerge from the tree line. When Daryl didn't make a move to put in down she took her knife from her belt as she walked quickly over to it and kicked it in it's brittle knee making it fall to the ground before she sank her knife into the ugly things eye socket.

When she turned back around Daryl was already walking away. She ran until she was in front of him then stopped making him stop. "What do ya want from me?" he snapped suddenly looking like a stranger to her.

She turned her back to him trying to hide the fact that her eyes instantly watered. _Why is he mad at me?_ she wondered to herself as she blinked away the un-fallen tears. She thought about turning around and going back inside, but she had worked too hard to finally be back in the woods. She wasn't going to let the fact that he was mad at her for no reason ruin it.

So she simply took an arrow from the holder and nocked it before she walked into the cover of the woods. She could hear Daryl behind her, but she paid him to mind. But when she heard him go another direction than her she wondered if he had done it because he was tracking something, or to get away from her. The thought of being alone out there where at anytime a horde of the undead could appear frightened her more than anything she could think of at the moment. So she swallowed her pride and started following Daryl. He only glanced at her when she caught up to him and started walking at his side like she had the day before.

When they came upon their first kill, Daryl took it down along with the second and third. He wasn't even giving her a chance, by the time she got her bow pulled back he had already pulled the trigger on his. It was pissing her off and after he took down the forth she threw her hands up in the air. "What is your problem?" she had taken the arrow out of her bow nad was holding it in her hand. "I thought you wanted me to become a better hunter. How an I supposed to do that if you keep robbing me of every chance I have?"

His face remained the same blank expression she had seen on him all day. "I could care less about what you do." She mentally shivered from the chill in his voice.

"Really? Then why did you give me these?" she ask holding her arms out for him to see the arm guard and release that was strapped to her arm and wrist. His took this opportunity to look at all of her. His eyes swept from her combat boot covered feet up the capri length jeans that clung to her thin hips. He took in the tan lace shirt she wore over a tank top that revealed a tiny bit of cleavage. His eyes lingered there a little longer than they should have before he looked up at the bright hazel eyes that were still glaring at him. He could tell that it pissed her off even more when he just shrugged at her.

"Fine, you know what? If you won't tell me what crawled up yer ass and died then ya can hunt by yourself. I'm outa here." She used the tip of the arrow to swat away a spider web before she starred stomping back to the prison. She was almost out of the woods when she realized that she didn't want to go back there before she had to.

She still had a while before she needed to start her usual chores. If she went back to the prison Jackson would find her and she didn't want to be around him right now, she didn't want to be around anyone. So when she spotted a tree that looked like it would be easy to climb, she walked over to it and started climbing. High in the tree she would be safe no one could see her and if a walker happened to walk by she could easily take it down from where she sat straddling a thick limb.

Once settled she leaned back and closed her eyes. She took a deep breath filling her nose with the scent of the tree around her. It instantly calmed her racing mind so that she could think clearly. She avoided thinking of Daryl though, this time was peaceful and that was going to be hard to come by now that Jackson knew where she went at night. So she simply took in her surroundings and enjoyed the quiet time.

She was in the unconscious but still aware point of sleep when she heard her someone talking. She opened her eyes and looked down to see Daryl walking by with squirrels dangling from his hip. He was mumbling and she only caught three words. "Fuckin pretty boy." Her bow slid from its position on her lap and hit noisily against the tree alerting him to her prescience.

He froze before he started looking around in the trees above him. His eyes narrowed when he spotted her. He watched her climb down then land on the ground with a light thud. "What were ya doin up there?" he asked with suspicious eyes before he pulled her arrow out of a walker she had shot while she was still up in the tree.

She plucked it from his hands before she turned her back on him and started walking. "I thought you could care less about what I do." She said turning his words against him not wanting to explain that she was too pissed off to go inside around people. Neither of them said another word to each other.

The rest of her day went on as normal. If she saw Daryl she didn't speak to him and he didn't even look in her direction. She crossed Jackson's path every once in a while, but he didn't have time to stop and talk because Glenn had him helping work on the pavilion. It wasn't until she snuck out to her spot that night that Jackson found her and sat down next to her on the table top.

"So, how was your day?" he asked with his ever present smile that she just glanced at as she watched Glenn walk the fence line. He had recently taken over Rick's place.

"It was just another day I guess." She sighed as she turned her eyes from his handsome features to look back at the stars that dotted the tips of the trees in the distance.

"You've looked distracted all day." She just shrugged her shoulders an nodded. She hadn't known it was that obvious. "Do you want to talk about whatever it is."

"Daryl's mad at me and I don't know why." She huffed out and crossed her arms over her chest.

"Well did you ask him why he was mad at you?" he asked and she realized that Jackson was a level headed person. If he didn't care about her or was just interested in getting something from her he wouldn't be asking her this question.

"Yea a couple of times actually, but he just blew me off." She said talking with her hands as she got aggravated all over again.

"I don't know what his problem is, but if you didn't do anything wrong then you shouldn't worry about it." He said standing up so that he could talk to her face to face. She knew he was probably right. She couldn't think of one thing she had done that would make Daryl be as mad at her as he was.

"I know, but I just can't stand knowing that someone is mad at me. I just wish I knew what I did so that I wont do it again and make it worse, ya know?" she asked dropping her head between her knees as she intertwined her fingers into her loose straight hair.

She looked up at him when he laid a hand on her back. "If he is your friend he'll get over it and start coming around. If he doesn't then it's his loss." He had lost the smile that was on his face when he first walked up and was now looking at her with serious eyes. "And hopefully my gain." His serious face was gone in a flash as his flirting smile lit up his face making her smile back at him.

Jackson knew why Daryl was acting the way he was, it wasn't hard for a man to figure out when one was jealous of another. But if Char couldn't see that, why should he point it out? If he did, wouldn't Daryl have the upper hand since he had known her longer and better than he did? Surely she would forget all about his charming smile and go running to the man that clearly had more street smarts and muscle than he did. So he kept his mouth shut, char was a good woman and he didn't want to lose her like he had all the others before her.

"So about that kiss this morning." A nervous laugh escaped her when he brought up how she teased him. "That was a yes right? I can get to know you better?" he scooted close to her and she resisted the urge to scoot away considering that just like the last time he tried to sit next to her she had no where else to scoot to. He wrapped his arm around her waist holding her to his side. "Didn't want you falling again." When he was sure that she wasn't going to fall again he let go of her and picked up her hand from where it rested on her knee.

When he ran his thumb across the tattoo before his thumb ran across scar that circled her wrist. The way his fingertips brushed across her skin awakened something in her that had been asleep for a very long time. His fingertips grazed the palm of her hand before he laced his fingers with hers and it sent off sparks in her that she couldn't hold back any longer. So she threw caution to the wind, turned to face him and pressed her lips to his.

He jerked from the surprise before he put his hand on her side kissing her back. "What was that about?" he asked confused by her sudden but welcomed attack.

Another nervous laugh rushed past her lips. "I don't know, I just…couldn't resist. I… uh… you're just so…" he laughed at her nervous babbling before he slid his hand over her cheek. She stopped talking as soon as he touched her. "I'm sorry." She breathed out and he smiled.

"Don't be, it's cute." _cute? Since when am I cute?_ she asked herself as her eyes locked onto his as he settled his lips over hers. His kiss calmed her overactive mind and when it broke he pressed his forehead to hers. "Your place or mine?" he asked and she suddenly realized what she was doing. _I've only known this guy for two days. I can't go back to the prison with him. I can't be with him like this._

She sighed and pulled her head from his before she slid off of the table. "Neither." He tilted his head in confusion. "I'm gonna go back to my cell and you can go back to yours." She could tell that he was disappointed but he didn't try to stop her or argue with her. He just let her walk off into the building while he stayed behind to do some thinking of his own.

When she got to her cell she sighed and flopped down on her bed. She wished she could have given in and told Jackson that she wanted him to come to her cell. But she had been taught better than to sleep with a man that she wasn't married to. She made that mistake with Richard. She wasn't going to make it again, especially considering that contraception was so hard to come by now days.

So she curled into a ball on her bed and tried to get some sleep.


	10. Chapter 10

**Everything is transient**

_Alone again tonight  
Without someone to love  
The stars are shining bright  
So one more wish goes up  
Oh, I wish I may  
And I wish with all my might  
For the love I'm dreaming of  
And missing in my life_

_I guess I must be wishing on  
Someone else's star  
It seems like someone else keeps getting  
What I'm wishing for  
Why can't I be as lucky  
As those other people are  
I guess I must be wishing  
On someone else's star  
"Someone Else's Star"-Bryan White  
_

**Ch 10**

As the days few by char found herself falling for Jackson. He was caring, didn't pressure her into doing anything she didn't want to do and best of all he didn't hit her. He never even yelled at her. Over the past month she had learned everything she needed to know about him. He never had a mean thing to say about anyone, not even Daryl who was still ignoring her and treating Jackson like he was the virus itself.

So she made herself start hunting on her own although she made sure to go the same time Daryl did. That way she would know that no matter what she was close to someone who could help her if she ever needed it, but she never did.

She had started spending her nights talking with Jackson in his cell instead of sitting out under the stars. "So how was your day?" he asked her with a smile as he picked up her hand from where it was sitting on her knee and kissed it.

"Same old same old." She sighed. "Killing fence walkers, planting stuff, hunting stuff." She started playing with the blanket that was on Jackson's bed where they where sitting side by side.

"You know the council has decided to start going on runs, the stock of food that was here when they found this place is getting low." He grabbed her leg pulling her to sit in his lap facing him and she laughed.

But when she looked at his face he wasn't smiling. "You look, conflicted." She said swiping a black curl from his face to let her hand rest on his neck. He squeezed her thighs where his hands where resting before he let out a sigh.

"They are getting a group together to go out scouting, I think I want to volunteer. But I want to know what you think first." He grabbed her hands and laced his fingers though hers holding them between them. "So what do you think?"

"I think if you want to go out there, if this is how you want to contribute, then who am I to stop you? We all have jobs. Some of us, like me and Carol, do better here, but others like Glenn, Maggie and Sasha do better out there." She said playing with his hands as she spoke.

"Are you telling me to stay or go?" he asked still looking pulled between the two. She knew he was asking her to make the decision for him, but she wasn't going to do that.

"I'm telling you to do what ever you want to do. Regardless of what you think I want you to do." He just stared at their meshed hands as he thought about it. "So what are you gonna do?"

"I don't know, but what I do know is… for right now, I'm going to kiss you." He let go of her hands to lace his fingers together behind her neck pulling her into him. She let herself relax into him as her hands slid to grips the sides of his shirt. He let one hand slide down her neck to her grip her chest through her shirt.

A quiet sigh left her parted lips when he moved to kiss the side of her neck. Her hands had a mind of their own as they slide under the hem of his shirt. He stopped kissing her long enough for her to pull it over his head and he hurriedly slipped her layered tank tops over her head. She realized what was happening when his hands slid down her flat stomach to fumble with the button of her shorts.

She gasped before she pushed her self back from him and stood against the wall of the prison. He flopped his hands onto the bed disappointed yet again. "I sorry." She said breathing heavily as she ran her hand through her hair in frustration. "I just…can't." every time he had tried to get her to relax and have fun with him he would do something that brought up visions of Richard and she would recoil from him.

"It's okay." He motioned for her to come back and sit with him but she just stared at him wondering why she couldn't get over it. Why couldn't she erase Richard from her mind and move on. Jackson was a good guy, but she just couldn't be with him like that no matter how attracted she was to him. From the first time she had met him there had been a magnetic force between them pulling them toward each other. Jackson said it was fate, that they were meant to be together, yet something just didn't feel right. "You know I'm not going to hurt you. Come here, please." He said motioning for her again.

So she gave in and curled up in his arm and rested her head on his shoulder. He didn't try to persuade her into kissing him again, he just wrapped his arm around her shoulders and held her to his side. When she heard his heavy breathing she knew he had fallen asleep. He didn't wake up when she slid out of his arm and grabbed her shirts off of the floor.

She was still straightening the hem of the top shirt as when she walked out of Jackson's cell and slammed into Daryl who was heading to his cell further down the catwalk. They both froze. Her chest touching his, his arms on her elbows where he had grabbed her out of reflex. Her eyes sheepishly found his and when she saw him glaring down at her she jerked her arms from his hands as if he had burned her. "Sorry for getting in your way." She said stepping to the side so that he could continue on his way.

He didn't say anything, just walked by her as if she hadn't even been there. When she got to her cell she curled up into her usual ball and fell asleep wondering if she was always going to be a broken woman.

She woke up the next morning to a silent cell block. She knew she was the first one awake so she sat up on the side of the bed and stretched with a yawn. The sun wasn't even all the way up and it was already getting hot in the building. So she changed out of her thin night clothes to a pair of long shorts and a clean blue tank top with a tan lace shirt over it. She brushed her hair and pulled it into a ponytail to keep it up off of her neck.

When she was done with her daily routine she decided to go to Jackson's cell and see if he was awake. She walked in to find that he had woken up during the night and changed into just a pair of sleep pants. She admired his hairless chest and abs for a while smiling to her self. She walked up to the bed and slid her fingertips over his side knowing that he was extremely ticklish. He jerked in his sleep before she ran her fingers back down the other side and he jerked awake. He glared at her playfully before he looped his arm around her hips pulling her down on top of him. "That was mean. I think you owe me one."

She laughed as he pressed his lips to hers running his hands down her back to her butt. She rolled off of him and stood up. "And I think you need to take a cold shower there Romeo." She said as she tossed his shirt at his crotch. "I'll see you outside." She said before she left his cell and went down to the holding room to the stash of crappy breakfast snacks that was always there. She snagged a granola bar before she headed outside where Hershel, Glenn and Maggie where sitting at the tables under the shaded half of the pavilion.

"Hey Char. You planning on going on the run?" Glenn asked and she shook her head.

"Not unless ya'll absolutely need me to." She said letting them know she wanted to do what she could to help. It wasn't too much longer before Jackson came out and joined her where she sat at one of the tables. He was asked the same question she was and he looked to her as if he wanted her to say something, but she didn't know what she was supposed to say. She had told him how she felt the night before. When she didn't say anything he told them that he would go.

She watched as a scavenge party was gathered. Glenn, Sasha, Maggie, and Jackson put the things they would need into a truck. The others were already in the truck when Jackson walked over to where Char was sitting. He put his hands on each side of her on the table as he leaned over her. "You sure you have no objections to me going?" he asked looking like he wanted her to say she did.

"I don't, but if you don't wanna go then don't go." She said putting her hands on his shoulders.

"Can I have a kiss before I go?" he asked and she smiled as he leaned down and pressed his lips to hers. She had a bad feeling in her stomach as she watched him walk away and get into the truck. She turned away not wanting to watch them disappear.

When she got tired of sitting there letting her thoughts get the best of her she got up and found Carol who was out in the yard pumping water into a buckets to bring back to the court yard. She started helping the older woman with the mundane task.

"Jackson went on the trip today?" she asked and Char just nodded her head. "You love him don't you?" she asked with a small smile that Char returned.

"I don't know." She answered honestly. "I know I love kissing him, I love talking to him and being around him, but…I don't know. Something just isn't clicking the way it should ya know?" she said as she moved a full bucket to the side and placed an empty one under the spout.

"Yeah, I know how that is. I went through it after Ed…died. There was a man that I liked for a while, before I figured out he wasn't right for me." She said not looking up from the pump.

"Really, what happened to him?" she asked and Carol looked up with a smile, but she wasn't looking at Char. She followed the older woman's gaze to Daryl. "What? Hold on, you were interested in Daryl?" she asked kind of amazed with the concept.

"Yeah, he… he's a great guy." She started to tell her about what Daryl had done for Sophia, but she just couldn't talk about it.

"He is, but…" Char's brows furrowed as she looked at the ground. "Has he said anything to you about why… why he is pissed at me?" she asked changing the subject slightly and Carol shrugged her shoulders like she didn't know what Char was talking about.

After that, silence settled over them. And Char went about her day as if it was just another day. She stayed out of Daryl's way and didn't really talk to anyone unless they spoke to her first. She couldn't hide the worry that was sitting on her shoulder like a big boulder. What was Jackson doing right now, is he safe, is he using his head or is he acting without thinking like he usually does? All of these questions were going through her head throughout the whole day.

They were still circulating in her head as she spent her afternoon downtime in her cell working on her knife throwing skills which sucked and would probably suck no matter how hard she tried to make them better. She had just released one into the target that she had painted on a board that was propped up on the back wall of the cell when she heard someone walk up behind her. She half expected to see Jackson, but instead it was Carol. "Hey." The unshed tears in Carol's eyes made her heart stop. "Jackson..."

"He didn't come back did he?" Carol shook her head and Char instantly got a headache from holding back the tears that she refused to let fall. It didn't help when Carol pulled her into a hug and told her she was sorry. "It's okay, I'll be okay." She didn't know if she was trying to convince Carol or herself.

"Are you sure?" she asked as she let go of Char who only nodded. She knew everyone else was okay when they all walked by with the loot of the day in their hands.

As soon as Carol left the room she pressed her back to the wall and slid down letting her tears fall. _I should have told him to stay. He wasn't cut out for that type of thing. He was a freaking video game designer for Christ's sake._ She thought to herself as she held her head in her hands. She sat there and cried until she was out of tears then pulled herself up, washed her face off and went Jackson's cell. They would need it cleaned out when another new survivor came along.

So she packed up all of his stuff and brought it to her cell where she started going through it. It seemed heartless, but these days clothes didn't get thrown out just because they had belong to someone who was now dead. Everything that you came across now days once belong to someone that was now dead.

She had emptied the bag that he kept all her personal belongings in when a folded up piece of paper landed ontop of the pile. It had her name on it so she picked it up with a shaking hand.

_Dearest Charlotte,_

_ This is going to sound cheesy, but if you are reading this it means that I decided to go on the run and I didn't make it back. I'm so sorry I didn't come back. I loved you so very much, but I know there is someone else out there for you. Lets face it, I wasn't "the one". I wanted so very much to be, but you didn't love me the same way I loved you. You are a beautiful, wonderful, intelligent and strong woman. I hope you find someone who can see that as well. You have a true love out there somewhere, you just have to find him. I wish you the best, you deserve it._

_-Jackson_

The letter only made her more depressed and she angrily wadded it up and chunked it out onto the cat walk. _Why did he have to do that. How come he had to leave his mark on me like that? I would have been perfectly fine not knowing what his last words to me would be._ She felt like screaming, but instead she flopped down on her bed and pressed her face into her pillow and bit down.

She just laid there until the hurt and anger faded away to be replaced with numbness. The sun had gone completely down when she finally pulled herself up to go to the bathroom. When she did she accidentally kicked a bag of Jackson's clothes that she hadn't gone through yet. The clank of glass against glass made her dig through the bag to find two bottles. One of wine and another of vodka she didn't know Jackson was one to drink, but she sat them down on the table and went about her business.

When she got back she sat down on her bed and stared at the bottles. _Maybe he was saving them for something._ She thought as she picked up the bottle of wine. It hadn't been opened so she sat it back down and picked up the half empty vodka bottle. She had never tried the stuff, back in her teenage years she had stuck to beer or wine coolers.

So she twisted off the lid and took a sip. She pressed the back of her hand to her mouth as she coughed from the burn of it. The smell and taste reminded her rubbing alcohol and she couldn't help but wonder why Jackson had such a nasty tasting substance in his bag. Regardless, she scooted back on the bed and leaned against the wall as she took another swig.

She didn't know why she decided to drink. Maybe it was because she felt numb, and drinking usually made her feel the same way. So if she was double numb she wouldn't be able to feel a thing.

But she was wrong. After she had downed a forth of the bottle she was feeling everything. Loss, anger, shame, and loneliness all piled up on her shoulders making her more depressed and confused then she had ever been. Well, the confusion might have just been the vodka, but she didn't know that.

She really didn't even know where she was going as she grabbed the bottle and started stumbling around the cell block. She walked around for ten minutes before she ended up at Daryl's cell. She didn't knock and didn't make any noise as she pushed the curtain that hung over his door aside stepped in and slid down across from his bed. It was the clanking of the bottle against the floor that alerted the sleeping Daryl to her presence.

He sat up and flicked on his light before he looked at her where she sat with the bottle in her lap and her hair a mess. She squinted from the light as she looked at him, he only had on a pair of jeans. It was the first time she had seen him without a shirt on. Her shaky vision didn't miss the scar that was slashed across his collar bone or the light marks over the rest of his torso. He slipped on a button up shirt before he sat down in front of her. "Yer…too." She slurred inaudibly before she took another drink of the clear liquid. He asked her what she was talking about. "I'm…yer… yer mad…ya hate me." She was confusing herself as she spoke.

"I'm not mad and I don't hate ya." He said gently trying to take the bottle from her but she pulled it back and took another drink.

"Bullshit. I don't blame ya fer hatin me. I'm a bitch. I to-" she hiccupped before she wiped the back of her hand across her mouth. "told Jackson to leave. I could tell he wanted me to tell him to stay…but I didn't."

"Yer not a bitch, if he wanted to stay he would have stayed." He said wondering why she had come to him like this.

"I am, that's why ya hate me, yer too good a man to admit it, but cha do." She was whispering now with her head hanging low. Daryl could see tears dropping from her eyes to land in her lap.

"I told ya, I don't hate ya." He said as he hooked his finger under her chin and lifted her head up so he could see her face.

"Then why ya been ignorin me?" her slurred words were heavily tainted by a thick accent that he had never heard her use before and he couldn't help but smirk at her.

He just stared into the teary hazel eyes that were slowly blinking at him. "because I like you ya blubberin, stubborn woman." He whispered more to himself than her and she smiled before here eyelids won the fight, she passed out and her head landed in his lap. He sighed happy that she hadn't threw up on him.

He simply stood up, lifted Char into his arms and carried her to her cell. He laid her on her side and propped her up with pillows to that if she did throw up she wouldn't choke on it. He noticed the wine bottle sitting on the table and he debated on rather or not he should take it. If he left it would she drink again? If he took it would she get pissed or would she even know he did it? He couldn't take the chance of her drinking again and doing something stupid so he took it.

When he got to his cell he pored the rest of the vodka down the sink before he uncorked the wine and emptied it too.


	11. Chapter 11

**Everything Is Transient**

_There's tears and there's fears and there's losses and crosses to bear_  
_And sometimes the best we can do is just to whisper a prayer_  
_Then press on because_  
_There's so much to live for and so much to love in this_

_Beautiful world_  
_Say what you will but I still believe_  
_It's a beautiful world_  
_It's a beautiful world_

_And I know I'm not dreaming_  
_I just choose to believe it_  
_-Dierks Bentley "Beautiful World"_

**Chapter 11**

She woke up the next morning to a raging headache and an upset stomach from hell. As soon as she sat up she had to run to the sink. All she did was dry heave and she knew the feeling wasn't going to go away. She would have to deal with the pain in her stomach for the rest of the day. It wasn't until she wiped her mouth and turned to the doorway that she saw that the wine bottle was missing. _Where did it go and what did I do last night?_ She saw the pillows that had been used to prop her up on her side and she knew that someone had helped her last night, but who, Jackso…?

The realization of why she drank in the first place slammed into her allover again. She braced her hands on the edge of the sink and squeezed her eyes shut to keep her tears from spilling over. It felt like it had been so long since she lost someone she cared about that she forgot he was gone. She was starting to think she shouldn't get close to anyone anymore. If she did it would curse them and they would die like Abby and Jackson. Some random accident would take them from her.

She felt as if an inch thick layer of sweat and grime was covering her skin so she wiped her face, dried her eyes and pulled herself together. _Yer gonna loose people, you know that. You can't fall apart and drink every time it happens. Pain always come's along with caring about someone. You just have to deal with it the best you can._ She told herself as she gathered up her shower bag and headed through the silent cell block to the showers.

Carol was in the holding room and Char stopped to talk to her. "Hey uh, this is going to sound…odd, but did you…help me last night?" Carol looked at her funny as she shook her head and asked what she was talking about. "I…may have gotten a little drunk and I can't remember if I did anything…stupid. Someone was definitely with me because I was propped up on my side with pillows this morning." She confessed sheepishly to the woman knowing she could trust her with this information.

Carol knew that Char had gotten drunk last night. Daryl had told her that morning before he went hunting that he found Char passed out and asked her to care for her if she needed it. So she knew that Daryl was she one that helped Char, but she wasn't going to say anything to her about it since Daryl had acted like he didn't want her to know. So Carol just shrugged her shoulders and played dumb. Char thanked her before she continued on her way to the showers.

She spent the rest of her day like she would any other. Avoiding Daryl because she still believed that he was mad at her. She decided to do something different with her day so she helped Glenn and some of the others out with finishing the roof of the pavilion.

~~~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~~~~

When night time rolled around she almost felt lost. She was so used to going to Jackson's cell that she didn't know what to do. She eventually decided to do what she had always done before he showed up and went outside. She could see Daryl walking the fence in the distance and she thought that she saw him turn his head and look at her when she sat down on her bench. _Must be seeing things. He doesn't look at me anymore._ She thought before she turned her eyes to the stars. She smiled when one shot across the sky and she closed her eyes wishing for what Jackson had told her about in his letter. That one day she would find the man she was meant to be with, the man that she deserved to be with and vice versa.

A cool breeze blew across her skin making her open her eyes. When she leaned up she was met by the cold eyes of Daryl. He hadn't approached her in a month, why was he standing in front of her now? "Ya alright?" he asked simply with a blank face.

She crossed her arms over her still slightly aching stomach as she swallowed hard and nodded once. "As alright as I can be I guess." She said back, her voice rough from not talking much during the day. She thought she saw worry flash across his face, but she wasn't sure.

Daryl knew that she didn't remember what he had told her the night before, Carol told him. But he found himself wishing she had remembered. He started walking off but something made him stop. He hadn't liked Jackson, he always used perfect English, or what Daryl thought was perfect English, used big words that no one understood and wasn't very good at much, but Char like him. So he turned to face her to see her looking back up at the sky. "For what it's worth," he turned her eyes on him and he could see the pain in the even from a distance. "I'm sorry for yer loss. I know ya cared for him."

"Thanks Daryl." She said and smiled remembering how he didn't like being thanked. Her smile faded and he went back to walking the fence. She returned her eyes to the sky and laid back on the table. She had almost fallen asleep when she heard a sound she hadn't heard in a really long time. The shaking of a rattlesnake's tail. Her blood ran cold.

She had never encountered that kind of snake before, she only knew what they sounded like because her grandfather had a snakes rattle at his house. She didn't know what she should do, but she knew they were really sensitive to vibrations, so calling for Daryl was out of the question. She decided it was best to just lay perfectly still and hope that it went away.

Eventually it stopped rattling and a little while later she could hear it slithering though the high grass. So she rolled over on the bench and shined her flashlight in its direction. When she was sure it was gone she shined the light around the bench to see if there were anymore before she got down and cautiously made her way to where Daryl was. He stopped walking and watched her looking around her feet as she made her way over to him. "Just wanted to tell ya to watch out for rattlesnakes, one just held me hostage on the bench for ten minutes." His face went back to being blank before she turned around and started walking off. She was surprised when he caught up to her and fell into step beside her.

"Two sets of eyes are better than one." He explained gruffly as he held his lantern out in front of them and kept his eyes on the ground. They had gotten to the door without running into anymore snakes and he opened the door for her, but she didn't go in. She was too busy trying to figure out why all of a sudden he was talking to her again. "Ya goin in?" he asked and she hugged herself as she shook her head no.

"Not just yet." She said quietly and he shut the door. She leaned up against the building as she looked him in the eyes. "Daryl, why are you mad at me?" she asked and he looked down as he rocked back on his heels.

"Not mad at cha." He mumbled and she kicked off of the building took a step toward him.

_Sure could've fooled me._ "Then why have you been avoiding and ignoring me for that last month?" she asked and he just shrugged. He had admitted it to her once, he wasn't going to do it again. "No, there's a reason and I'm sick and tired of trying to figure it out. So please tell me." She said louder than she should have, but she was sad, tired, frustrated with Daryl and on top of all that the aching in her stomach was making a come back.

He shrugged again. "I just figured ya needed yer space." _Space, why would I need space from you?_ "Didn't figure Jackson would like some redneck hangin around ya." It was a lie, but she didn't know that. He gave her space because she liked Jackson and he was closer to her age than he was. Char also hadn't shown any interest in Daryl. So he figured if he pissed her off like he had in the woods and stopped talking to her, that he would forget how just being around her made him feel. A way he hadn't felt since high school. He wasn't good for her and he knew it. He didn't think he was good for any woman, thought he was too fucked up to be with anyone.

"Yer not just some redneck, you're… my friend. Right?" she asked and he sucked his thin bottom lip into his mouth. She watched it slide between his teeth before he nodded. "Good, but you should know there's a price to pay for bein close to me." She said leaning back against the wall again. He tilted his head at her not understanding. "Yer cursed now. Just like Abby, Jackson, Mrs. Kelly, and everyone else that's given a damn about me since these things started walking."

"Bullshit." He scoffed at her. "Ain't no one died just cause they care. They died 'cause that's just how thangs are now. People die and we can't do a damn thang to stop it." She just shook her head and stared at the ground.

"Jackson died because I didn't stop him. He gave me a thousand opportunities to ask him not to go and I didn't. I should have asked him to stay for me, like he wanted me to." She didn't want Daryl to see her cry, she didn't like anyone so see her cry, but she didn't know that he had seen her cry the night before and it about killed him then, just like it was now. Unlike last night he waited for her to look up and didn't try to wipe her tears when she did. He just stood here, one hand across his chest with his fingers hooked into the armhole of his sleeveless shirt and the other at his mouth as he chewed on his thumb. "I couldn't have saved Abby," she ran her finger over her tattoo as she thought about her sister, "I know that, but I could have saved him." She said before she sniffled and swiped the back of her hand across her nose.

Daryl pulled a red oily shop rag out of his pocket and handed it to her. "Ya gotta stop that, ain't not point in it." She wasn't sure if he was talking about her crying or her talking about how she could have saved Jackson. "Ya couldn't a saved him. Even if ya could have it's too late and worryin about what could'a been get's ya nowhere." During the few minutes of silence between them her nose stopped running. She didn't know if she should give the rag back to him or just keep it because it had her snot all over it. So she just kept holding it in her hand as she crossed her arms over her chest. "Ya just gotta keep movin." He said as her eyes caught his through his long hair.

She nodded understanding what he was telling her. Without really thinking about it she took a few steps forward and wrapped her arms around his waist. She felt him jump when she did and she pressed her face into his shoulder. "Thanks Daryl, you're a good friend." She whispered before she pulled back to see him looking at her through slotted eyes. "Sorry if ya don't like hugs." She said when she noticed the look on his face. "I won't do it anymore if ya don't." she said feeling stupid for some reason.

"Na, s'fine, just wasn't expectin it's all." He said waving her off like it really was nothing.

"Um, do ya want this back or ya want me to wash it for ya?" she asked holding up the rag and he told her to keep it. "Okay, Im'ma go back inside." She said before she pulled the door open and disappeared inside the building. He returned to walking the fence, keeping an eye out for snakes like she had suggested.

She sank down on her bed debating rather or not she wanted to keep going back outside every night. If there was one snake there was bound to be more right? Maybe if they came up with a way to get rid of all the high grass around the prison then it would be safer. The last thing they needed was for one of the few kids around the place to get bitten by one.

Eventually that topic faded out and she curled into a ball before she pulled a thin sheet over herself. Daryl took over her mind. She was glad that they were back on a good terms again. She had oddly missed him even though he hadn't really gone anywhere. He had only been giving her space that he thought she needed. Something about that didn't quite sit right with her, it almost didn't make since. But she decided to believe it because she didn't want to loose him or anyone else for that matter.


	12. Chapter 12

**Everything is Transient**

_I've had choices since the day I was borne_

_There were voices that told me right from wrong_

_If I had listened, no I wouldn't be here today_

_Living and Dying with the choices I've made._

_-George Jones "Choices"_

**Chapter 12**

Months past, more people were brought to the prison. So many that they were all spread out between cellblocks. This suited Char fine, but she didn't get close to any of them. After what happened with Jackson she decided that it was easier to have a few close friends and not bother with the rest. She was close to Carol, Daryl and Karen, and that was good enough for her, but here lately Karen had started spending her free time getting to know Tyreese. Char was happy for her, but she couldn't help but envy the couple along with the few others that had started to develop around the place.

When Beth wanted some time off from little Judith and Carol was busy with something else Char would take care of her. Taking care of the little girl didn't faze Char as much as she first thought it would. She just figured it was because she was glad that this baby made it into the world. She wasn't jealous. She wanted to help this child because it needed all the help it could get. This is what she was doing when Beth came in the room looking like she had just woke up. "Hey, Rick outside already?" she asked and held her arms out for the small, yet heavy, child.

"Yeah he left right after I woke up." She answered as she handed Judith over to the petite girl. "You got her for a while?" Char asked and Beth nodded so she headed outside eager to be out in the fresh morning air. As soon as she stepped outside she could see the people already gathering under the now finished pavilion. Carol was standing behind the clay stove like always. Char chimed a good morning to Doctor S. and Carol as she grabbed a small plate of the food and sat down at the table to eat it.

She was bringing her empty plate to Carol when she started hearing people telling Daryl good morning. Char laughed to herself at the amount of people that greeted him. The man really didn't know just how likeable he was. Char started helping Carol cook when Daryl walked up to the stove. "Just so you know, I liked you first." Carol smiled but Daryl didn't smile back.

"Stop." Daryl grunted out and Carol gave Char a playful wink when Daryl looked down at the ground in thought. "Ya know Rick brought in a lot of 'em too."

"Not here recently. Give the strangers sanctuary, keeping people fed, you're gonna have to learn to live with the love." Char smiled to herself because she had been thinking the same thing every since she first realized that Daryl didn't know how to accept a thank you.

He glanced over at Char though narrowed eyes when she let a laugh slip from her lips that she had been trying to contain. She knew that he knew why she had laughed. "Right." He grunted out making Char look down at her hands to hide her smile behind her loosely side braided hair that she had yet to convince herself to cut.

"I need you to see something. Char you got it from here?" she asked and Char nodded before she called Patrick over to help her with the cooking. She had a tendency to burn things and the boy was a good cook.

When Patrick saw that Daryl was out and about he got his attention. "Uh, Mr. Dixon." Char smiled to herself as she watched Patrick awkwardly thank Daryl for the deer that he had tracked and killed the previous day. Char tucked her lips into her mouth and bit down to suppress the laugh that wanted to bubble out of her when she saw Daryl lick his fingers clean and shake the boys offered hand. "Well I'm assuming worrying about germs went out the window when the dead started walking." Char said with a laugh as Patrick shook his hand out to his side as if he was trying to sling the spit from it. Patrick just smiled as he helped her.

They had the rest of the meat cooked before Carol came back and finished cleaning up. Char saw Rick and Hershel in the garden hovering over some of the plants. So she decided to go tend to some of the other beds. As she sat her hand on the moist warm soil she couldn't help but think of herself as weird for thinking that it felt good. To her, the plants going in the field was one of the most beautiful things in the world. With a little time and care what they were growing could be canned and stored to feed them in the coming months. It also reminded her of the good ole days when she would kneel alongside her grandfather in his garden.

She was picking nut grass out from around the plants when she heard the sharp whistle that alerted everyone outside that Michonne was returning to the prison. She looked up from her work in time to see her ride up and Carl and Rick let her in.

The three had been talking for a while before the silver truck, green car and Daryl on his motorcycle drove up to the woman on the horse. Daryl had mentioned the day before while they were hunting that they were planning a run, but she had forgotten about it. So she walked over to where the people were and she heard Daryl said that they were going to go check out the Big Spot. "Na, I'm gonna go check the snares. Don't wanna loose what we catch to the walkers." Rick glanced over at her "You comin?" Char gave him a single nod.

Michonne told Daryl that she would go and headed for the truck before he turned to Char. "Ya sure ya don't wanna come along?" he asked as she nodded.

"I'm sure. Checking the snares is a lot safer." She answered.

He shook his head at her. "Yer gonna have to go back out there sooner or later."

She just rolled her eyes at him. The one time Char had joined the people on a run, a man ended up dieing. She couldn't bring herself to go back out here again because she felt like a bad luck charm. Daryl knew this and he kept trying to her out of the safe bubble that she had been living in here lately. "You just be safe out there."

"Always." He said as he started up the bike and drove off. Rick walked over to the horse stall and Char headed into the building. A few minutes later she came out with her bow swinging at her hip, a knife on her thigh and a quiver of arrows on her back. When she met Rick at the edge of the woods he shook his head at her. "You ever go anywhere with out that bow?" he asked and she shook her head.

"You can guarantee that I'll never leave those gates without it." She said and the conversation dropped as they made their way to the snares. The first one they came to held a large rabbit and he tucked it into the bag on his side with a small smile. But that faded when they saw the deer that had been eaten and mangled by the dead. "That sucks." Char thought out loud. "We'll need to hall the off so that it doesn't attract walkers to the traps." She said before he nodded and they headed of to the next one.

When Char heard the sound of the downed hog her head went spinning off thinking of how good it would taste all cooked up. But when a walker stumbled out of nowhere her heart fell and she knocked an arrow in her bow out of anger. She had the tip trained on the walkers head when it looked right at her and spoke. "Wait, don't…Please. Please help me." The woman begged with a thick accent, but Char didn't drop her weapon. The woman held out her hand as if to halt Char, who didn't know what to do. She had never been in a situation like this. "I know you don't know me, okay, I know that. But can you please help me get this to my husband? We haven't eaten in days." Char looked to Rick for him to let her know what to do. He put his hand on the limb of her bow and eased it down.

He reached into his bag and pulled out food wrapped in tinfoil. "Here, go ahead." he said quietly and the woman took it with a thank you before she looked around holding back tears. She asked if they had a camp around here and Rick told her that they did. Char stood there and watched as Rick conversed with the moldy woman, frisked her then warned her. When she told him she didn't have anything else to loose Rick assured her that she did before he turned to Char. "You go ahead and tend to the snares. I'll handle this."

Char simply nodded and started walking in the direction of the next trap, but she didn't check it. Something about the woman wasn't sitting right with her. So instead of doing as Rick asked she followed, undetectably, behind the two. She listened to the woman, Clara, talking about her stay at the airport and how she and her husband had to do horrible things. Even from a distance she could see Rick tense slightly when she asked if he thought that they got to come back from the horrible things that you have to do in order to survive. Char blocked out the rest of their conversation until she heard Clara say that their camp was just ahead.

Char slipped around the edge of the camp so that she could see the woman talking to Eddie, who was only a head in a burlap sack. Char had kept the arrow knocked in her bow and when she saw the moldy woman reach for her knife Char stepped out of the brush making her presence known. "Don't even think about it." Rick turned quickly, gun trained on Clara. He was no doubt surprised to see Char standing there with her bow trained on Clara who held the knife out to her side looking between the both of them. Clara stumbled back toward her tent and looked into the trees as she spoke.

"I wanted to take the boar, but I just knew. I knew I would get you here so much quicker. He's starving-he's slowing, he needs something alive!" she sobbed and turned to Rick putting her back to Char. "Please, I told you I can't be without him. And so I kept him alive, it was wrong. I can't do things like this." The woman's sobs were causing a painful ache in char's chest. Her heart went out to her. "You have to do things like this." She saw the woman move the knife in front of here where char could no longer see it. "Let me be like him, don't stop it. Don't end it after." Char saw the woman lift the knife above her head. _No_. Char's thoughts echoed Rick words. "Let me be with him." The woman said.

"No!" both Char and Rick exclaimed as they saw the knife headed for her stomach. Char dropped her bow and tried to grab the knife but she was too late. She watched in horror as the knife sank into the woman's stomach a second time. She couldn't help the tears that streamed down her cheeks as she watched Rick lower himself in front of the woman. She wanted to comfort the woman, but was too numb. All she could do was stand by and listen to Rick asking her the three questions.

"You don't… you don't get to come back. You don't get to come back… from the things…You don't." the woman gasped and after she had taken her last breath Rick started shaking from holding back his tears. When he finally stood up and started walking off Char walked over to the bagged, slowly snapping head and pulled back the string of her bow.

"What do you think you're doin?" Rick asked with a hard voice that made Char jump back.

"I'm taking them down." She said matter-of-factly and Rick shook his head at her.

"Did you not hear what she said?" he asked causing Char's brow to crease as she looked at him in confusion.

"Yeah. She wanted to be with him." Rick gave her a look that suggested she was stupid. "She's not with him no matter how you think about it. If she turns she won't be with him, she will wonder off and leave her husbands head behind. She'll eat people or get shot, stabbed or stomped on." She paused to think for a minute. "The way I see it, their souls are trapped in their cold, dead bodies and they won't be released until we-" Rick raised an eyebrow at her that made her pause, but not for long. "Until _someone_ puts them down. She wanted to be with him I'm letting her be with him, the right way."

"Whatever. It's on your conscience." Rick said tiredly before he walked off leaving her to do whatever she wanted to do. She bit her lip in contemplation as she looked at the crumpled body on the ground. She thought about all the people that had been killed and turned by the undead things people turn into. _And this woman wanted to become one?_ The more Char thought about it the more the concept of Clara wanting to become something that would eventually kill someone else, pissed her off. So now mostly out of anger she pulled the string back and let the arrow pierce the skull of the bagged head then pulled the arrow out and sent it flying into Clara, who was now twitching back to life.

The arrow stilled her movements and Char knelt down beside her. She pulled the arrow out and wiped it on Clara's skirt before she looked to her open milky white eyes. "I'm sorry." She whispered as a tear slid down her cheek and landed on the dead woman's cheek. "Hate me from wherever you are now," another tear fell mixing with Clara's that were still on her cheeks "but it just wasn't right." Char slid her hand over the woman's face closing her eyes before she got the sleeping bag from the woman's tent and covered her body with it.

When she started to go find Rick she saw him standing at the edge of the woods. She didn't say anything to him. She didn't think that she needed to explain herself any further than she already had. From then on out they checked the snares in thick silence and as soon as the got inside the fences they went separate ways. She knew that if she went to her cell that what just happened would completely sink in and she didn't want to deal with it. So she went to the library where Luke had just stepped outside to take watch. He knew that Char knew what Carol was really teaching them so he just smiled at her as she walked in.

"Ma'am may I be dismissed?" Patrick asked. "I'm not feeling well."

"Sometime's you're gonna have to fight through it. What if you wind up out there alone? You just give up because you're feeling bad?" _jeez Carol, a little harsh don't you think? _Char thought to herself as she watched the scene play out in front of her.

"No, it's just, I don't want to yack on somebody." He said and Carol dismissed him.

"You want me to walk with you?" Char asked and he smiled at her and nodded. So she walked with him to cell block D and when they got to his cell she followed him in. "Do you need anything?" she asked.

He shook his head. "No ma'am, but thank you anyways." He said with a smile as he sat down on his bed and took his glasses off.

Without meaning to Char had let the boy grow on her. "Was a pleasure." She said with a smile mimicking the boy's old school ways. She reached out to pat his cheek and when she did his skin was hot to the touch. "My god, you're burnin up." He tried to wave her off as if it was no big deal, but char knew better. "You lay down and I'll be back with a cool rag for your head." She said before she left the room, grabbed a rag from the cellblocks supply and dipped it into the tub of water.

By the time she got back he was sound asleep, so she pushed his sweaty hair aside and laid the folded rag across his forehead like she remembered her mother doing to her when she was around his age. She left him there and told herself that if his temp hadn't dropped by morning that she would alert Doc. S to the problem. Having nothing else better to do she reluctantly went to her cell where she collapsed onto the bed.

What happened with Clara took over her thoughts just like she knew it would as soon as she was somewhere quiet. She silenced them by setting up what she thought of as her dart board and started throwing her knife at it. She did this over and over until it was dark out and even then she thought about not going out. But she knew that the fresh night air would do her some good and she was no longer in fear of rattlesnakes because someone had found a push reel lawn mower and made it work again.

She could see the shadowy figure of Daryl on the ledge of one of the guard towers. _Wonder if his day went any better than mine?_ She thought as she settled down on her picnic table that had been moved closer to the building in order to make room for other things. She had grown used to the feel of the hard wood beneath her back as she lay down and looked at the twinkling stars.

Images of Clara's blood soaked stomach and gasping face filled her head. All reason was telling her that she did the right thing, but Rick had been right. Her conscience was eating her alive for going against a woman's dieing wishes. A grunt left her lips as she was jabbed in the side and she sprang up. Daryl was glaring at her from where he sat next to her on the table top. She hadn't even realized that he had sat down. "Di'cha hear a word I just said?" he asked and she ran her fingers through her hair as she shook her head.

"Na, I was…" she didn't know how to finished the sentence.

"Floatin up there with them stars yer always lookin at?" He finished and she nodded before she asked him what he said. "Zach." She could tell by the look on his face that the young man hadn't made it back today. Char asked if Beth knew and he nodded. "Didn't even cry when I told her." He said with a shrug before he looked off into the distance letting the conversation drop and they both got caught up in their own thoughts. "Yer spacin again." He observed and Char just look at him. His face turned quizzical when he saw the trouble in her eyes that she wasn't even trying to hide anymore. "What happened?" he asked and she turned her face to look at her hands where they were folded in her lap.

"Went out checkin the snares with Rick today… we found a woman. She asked us to help her get a pig to her husband." Daryl waited patiently for her to keep talking. "Her husband turned out to be a head… a walker head in a sack." Daryl wrinkled his nose at the thought. "She stabbed herself, said she wanted to be like her husband. Asked us not to stop her from turning." She didn't look up from her hands until Daryl spoke.

"What di'cha do?" he asked gruffly quiet and when she looked at him his eyes were only slits on his face.

"I took her out after she turned, her husband too." His face didn't' change so she looked back down at her hands. "At the time I thought it was the right thing to do."

"And now?" he prompted.

"Now I'm not so sure. I wouldn't want someone goin against what I asked them to do, but then again I don't ever want to be one of those things." She didn't know how to put what she was thinking and feeling into words so she stopped talking.

"Ya did the right thing." She just looked at him with tired eyes. _Is he just saying that to make me feel better or did I really do the right thing?_ she just gave him a shrug before plopping back down on her back.

While she looked at the stars she turned her thoughts to Daryl. He was always doing something. She hardly ever saw him just sit down and relax other than when he took the time to sit with her every other night. When she had first gotten there if Daryl wasn't walking the fence at night, Rick, Glenn or someone else was. But as time passed everyone stopped but him. "I have a question." Char said as she sat up pulling the hem if her shirt back into place from where it had slid up to reveal her stomach when she laid back.

"I might answer it." Daryl said matter-of-factly and when she glanced at him he had a tired smirk on his face.

"Why do you still walk the fence at night? I know it used to be 'cause of The Governor, but everyone else has stopped. If he was comin back he obviously would have done it by now." She said and Daryl shook his head.

"Just feels like the safe thang to do." He said and let it drop at that. Char had heard that The Governor was a very dangerous, manipulative man, but she still didn't completely know why Daryl still walked the fence at night. All she knew for sure was that he cared about every single person there. He got to know them all and when one of them asked him to do something or help them he usually did it. She didn't know how he could stand to get close to people then watch them get lost to the walkers and still keep getting to know new people. He took the pain of the loss and kept on kept on going. She had been staring off into space while she thought about him and was completely unaware of his eyes on her, taking her in, the whole time. "Ya still in there?" he asked and she shook her head as if to sling the thoughts from it. She chimed out a quiet yeah. "What ya thinkin 'bout?" he asked and she wasn't surprised because it wasn't the first time he had asked her the question. He knew she wouldn't get offended if he asked and she would tell him the truth when he did. But he only asked because he liked the way she unknowingly made faces when she was lost in deep thought. He liked to try and figure out what facial expression went with what thought.

"You." He snorted at her answer. "Seriously." She said with a smile. "I admire you Daryl Dixon." He just shook his head and looked down at the ground. "Yer not afraid to get to know people, talk with people, learn their stories. I can't do that. I'm too…Chicken." She finished and he just shook his head not saying a word and a thought suddenly hit her. "Now that I think about it, you know a crap load about me and I'm assuming you know a lot about everyone, but I don't really know that much about you and I've known you for like five, six months now."

"Don't know that much 'bout cha." He said in that quiet ruff voice of his and she crossed her arms over her chest with a smirk.

"Really? Then what's my favorite candy?" she asked.

He raised an amused eyebrow at her. "Three way tie between sour straws, salt water taffy and sugar daddies." She smiled even thought she wasn't surprised that he remembered. "I only know 'cause when I asked ya if there was any sweet things that ya wanted me to keep an eye out for ya couldn't pick between the three." He said like he was aggravated with her question even though he had enjoyed watching her almost argue with herself in the process of answering his simple question.

"Fine, what's my favorite song?"

"When You Say Nothing At All." He answered just as fast as she had asked. This did surprise her. "You sing it in yer cell at night when you think everyone's asleep." She blushed because she hadn't expected him to know that one and she thought she saw it mirrored on his cheeks but she brushed it off and turned to face him.

"You're just proving my point. You know stuff about me, you pay attention to people, and no one really knows anything about you. I don't know yer favorite song, or candy. I don't even know your middle name." she said "All I know is that your name is Daryl Dixon, you had a brother named Merle, you like to hunt, bite your nails and when you cross your arms you tuck your hands into the armholes of your shirt rather than into the bend or your arms." She said realizing that she knew even less than she thought she did.

"Zach was always wantin to know what I did before the turn. Why do people care 'bout what I'm like and what I did?"

"Because it seems like you care about what they did and who they are. Which is why I'm asking you. What did you do before the turn?" he just looked at her with aggravation on his face. But she wasn't giving up. "Fine, what's your favorite song?" he heaved out a breath and stood from the table to start walking off. Char quickly jumped in front of him and held her hands out to stop him. "What do I have to do to get you to tell me?" she asked strangely desperate for him to cooperate with her.

He crossed his arms across his chest and bit his lip in thought. "Go on a run with me." He said and her mouth fell open.

"Daryl I can't." she said her whole body deflating from its once confident stance.

"That's the price, take it or leave it." He said before he stepped around her and headed off to the tower. _Seems like a high price to pay just for a song._ she thought as she shook her head and headed to her cell for the night.

As she curled into a ball under her sheet thoughts about Clara resurfaced. But she pushed them back and tried to get some sleep. Before sleep over came her she thought of Daryl and her last ones for the day were of him and what she though his favorite song would be.


End file.
